A critical approach to co-producing knowledge for development
Motivation The concept of co-production has gained currency in development policy as an approach for collaboration and/or stakeholder participation to improve development outcomes. Co-production implies bringing together different knowledges to create something new, acknowledging that knowledge is b...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Wiley
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176066 |
| Sumario: | Motivation
The concept of co-production has gained currency in development policy as an approach for collaboration and/or stakeholder participation to improve development outcomes. Co-production implies bringing together different knowledges to create something new, acknowledging that knowledge is both plural and partial; there are multiple ways of knowing and no one way represents truth. Yet existing literature on co-production tends to focus mostly on strategies for engagement rather than reckoning with structural forces and practical problems to realizing co-production.
Purpose
This article asks how the implementation of the co-production concept can account for relations of power. It develops a conceptual framework and practical guidance for co-producing knowledge for development.
Approach and Methods
The study provides an overview of the theory and practice of co-production and assesses its use in existing development policy. It draws on insights from political ecology literature to construct a conceptual framework and set of practical strategies for implementing co-production.
Findings
This article advances an approach to the co-production of knowledge that integrates political economy, reflexivity, and participatory methodologies to guide collaboration. This approach accounts for historical marginalization and unequal power relations to guide development interventions and/or policy.
Policy Implications
The article warns against uncritical adoption of co-production and highlights practical measures to examine power relations in order to understand challenges and enact equitable sustainable development in diverse settings. |
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