O4O Policy Retreat

Communities Co-producing Services

7-8 September 2010
Golf View Hotel, Nairn, Highlands, Scotland
 

A concentrated event to get solutions on co-producing services into future policy on care and support, to keep older people living in their homes and rural communities.

Building on the O4O: Older for Older initiative

O4O is an EU Northern Periphery Programme initiative working with older community members to use their skills, energy and friendships to support their own basic service provision. O4O sees older people as a positive force that should not be seen as a burden to society. In O4O, people and communities have made social enterprises and volunteer organisations. They have identified gaps in helping their neighbours, including transport, odd jobs, making meals, supported housing, IT skills, good neighbour and friendship schemes. O4O has worked with older people - doing social enterprise training, business development and social entrepreneur development. By doing things with communities, O4O has produced new learning about what can be done, what could be done and what needs to change. Three years into the O4O initiative, we want to exchange knowledge, identify things that need to change and build an agenda for action that will make more involvement of community members in service delivery actually happen.
 

What is the Policy Retreat?

The policy retreat is 2 days in Nairn, Scotland where we will present learning from the O4O initiative about:

• how to build community readiness
• developing community social entrepreneurs
• how to build social organisations in very small communities
• sustaining social organisations
• the role of public services in change
• what social organisations and volunteering can reasonably do
• financing and legislation challenges

We will work with a selected* group of European policymakers to shape a future agenda on what needs to change to develop more community production of basic services. The Policy Retreat output will make practical recommendations on local, national and international actions, attitudes and policy.
*We have invited 2 policymakers from each O4O partner region.

 Registration for this event is now closed.

Please visit this page for further details on conference outputs after the event.