ENABLE - From Culture of Caring to Culture of Enabling: How to Co-produce Services for People with Intellectual Disability

The ENABLE project “From Culture of Caring to Culture of Enabling: Co-produce Services for People with Intellectual Disability” is developed through an Inclusive Training/Learning Platform on how to co-design, co-deliver and co-evaluate services for people with ID together with: services users, families, professionals in disability and local community representatives.
The methodology of co-production is implemented through the creation of Assemblies-Focus groups that bring together a variety of stakeholders.
ENABLE implements an innovative methodology to address target groups and build reciprocal relationships between professionals services users and other stakeholders.
- It promotes inclusive learning and training materials for users, families and professionals, recognition of the skills, merits and abilities of persons with disabilities, and of their contributions to the workplace and the labour market as well as the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities.
- It also aims to assist persons with disabilities are able to access vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with (art 24 UN CRPD education). ENABLE strongly believes that the co-production in social service design and provision in EU could represent a unique opportunity to rethink the relationship between the citizen and the state, and invest in ENABLING societies.

Context: The ENABLE Project can be described as a two-year participatory process that saw 6 very committed partners work together in a co-productive way to test and promote co-production as a new participatory way to provide services for people with intellectual disability.

The co-production approach on which the ENABLE project has been developed is fundamentally rooted in addressing social injustice and inequity. Training and focus groups were approached from the standpoint of collaboration and partnerships that regard diversity and inclusion in training environments as vital assets that contribute to the richness, accessibility and effectiveness of learning and training activities.

The rationale behind the project was that co-production represents a unique opportunity to re-think the partnership between the state and the citizen through the redefinition of the role of service users, families, professionals and local community making them equal partners and engines of change within the production and delivery of social services. Partners worked together to implement the co-production methodology through dedicated focus groups, and the setting-up of the learning platform.

Stakeholders involved: service users, professionals, families, communities

Key learning points: 1. innovative approaches to increase awareness and competnces of profesionals
2. addresses issues of equality for persons with disabilities
3. co-production of services

Evaluation: Yes

Information sources: No relevant links

Read the full analysis: https://co-production.eu/project-3/