Co-production before, during, and after the first COVID-19 lockdown: The case of developmental services for youth with disabilities

Co-production was vital to support public services provision during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the main challenges for service providers is to make co-production sustainable. There are few empirical studies on the sustainability of co-production from a long-term perspective. This study aims to contribute to this topic by exploring the micro-level foundations of co-production persistence through a longitudinal qualitative study in three public service organizations providing developmental services for youth with disabilities. Co-production is analyzed along the service provision process before, during and after the first COVID-19 lockdown, with specific attention on exploring how the conditions for sustainable co-production – mutual commitment, complementarities and institutional arrangements – occur and reinforce one another after an external shock. The findings suggest that the persistence of co-production is a result of a process in which experimentation with new complementarities can enhance previous co-production experiences and generate a context of mutual commitment that facilitates future co-production initiatives and their institutionalization. Points for practitioners: This article suggests how service providers can activate a potential virtuous cycle of co-production by increasing the opportunities that foster and sustain users and families' self-efficacy and reciprocal trust, and the contributions from wider social support networks of the most vulnerable people.