Co-production in action: Co-creating priorities, funding streams and action with the VCS

Haringey’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) plays a critical role in supporting residents facing poverty, exclusion, poor health and social inequality. Grassroots groups, neighbourhood networks and established charities provide trusted, culturally competent and responsive services, often reaching communities who do not engage with statutory provision.  

When Haringey Community Collaborative was commissioned as the borough’s VCS capacity-building lead, it made a deliberate choice about how it would operate. Rather than adopting a traditional commissioning or directive model, the Collaborative embedded co-production at the centre of its strategy.  

This means that VCS priorities, funding decisions and action plans are not determined by the Collaborative alone. Instead, they are shaped collectively with the sector and with residents, ensuring that those closest to local challenges define the solutions.  

The result is a practical example of co-production in action: a system where power, decision-making and resources are shared.  

The foundation: a trusted and locally rooted sector  

Haringey’s VCS is characterised by deep community relationships and a strong understanding of lived experience. Recognising this, the Collaborative’s role has been designed as enabling infrastructure for the sector by convening, supporting and amplifying rather than directing activity from the centre. This ensures that lived experience of grassroots communities directly shapes local strategies like cost of living, housing quality, youth safety, SEND provision and mental health access.  

Co-producing the strategy: deciding priorities together  

The Collaborative’s 2026–2027 priorities were developed through a structured co-production process that placed decision-making with the sector itself.  

Between July and October 2025, the Collaborative engaged widely across the borough through:  

• Surveys of 52 Haringey-based VCS organisations  

• Workshops with 42 VCS participants  

• Contributions from 23 statutory partners  

• A ‘Cabinet in the Community’ event  

While statutory partners provided context and alignment, the explicit focus was on ensuring that priorities were identified ‘by and for the VCS’. The process included four stages:  

• Reviewing evidence and existing research  

• Shortlisting themes through sector feedback  

• Mapping VCS strengths and capacity  

• Facilitated workshops where participants agreed the final priorities  

This approach ensured that the resulting framework reflected lived realities rather than organisational assumptions.  

Six shared priorities were agreed:  

• Cost of living  

• Crime and community safety  

• Mental health and wellbeing  

• Employability, skills, education and training  

• Health and social inequalities  

• Housing   

These themes represent the issues where the sector both sees the greatest need and has the greatest potential to make a difference.  

Sharing decision-making through funding  

Co-production extends beyond strategy into how resources are allocated.  

The Challenge Fund model provides small grants, typically from £3,000 to £10,000, to grassroots organisations to test, learn and develop locally designed initiatives aligned with the co-produced priorities. Importantly, funding decisions are made by panels comprising residents and stakeholders with relevant lived experience, ensuring that community perspectives directly shape investment.   

Each funded cohort receives:  

• Seed funding  

• Tailored capacity building  

• Impact support  

• Peer learning and networking  

• Opportunities to connect with partners and funders  

With support and funding from Haringey Council and the borough’s Family Hubs programme, around £80,000 in grant funding was allocated to grassroots organisations over the last year. And £100k of grant funding is now being made available with the support of the North Central London Integrated Care Board, for organisations and activities supporting developments of healthy neighbourhoods. 

Building the conditions for participation  

Effective co-production requires a resilient and confident sector. The Collaborative therefore aligns its capacity-building offer with needs identified directly by VCS organisations.  

Support includes:  

• Training on trauma-informed and culturally competent practice  

• Guidance on governance, safeguarding and sustainability  

• Fundraising and bid-writing assistance  

• Technology and data skills  

• Partnership and network development  

The Collaborative also works with the sector to shape wider systems and policy. Rather than acting as a representative voice, the Collaborative convenes and amplifies the expertise of community organisations, bringing lived experience directly into local and regional decision-making.  

This includes joint advocacy on:  

• Poverty and cost-of-living pressures  

• Housing quality and homelessness  

• Youth safety  

• Mental health access  

• Health and social inequalities  

The resulting priorities, funding programmes and actions are co-created commitments that reflect the knowledge, experience, and leadership of Haringey’s communities. The model strengthens trust, improves relevance, and builds a more resilient voluntary and community sector.