Commissioning to Facilitate Community Building & Development

 

2010 report, “A Glass Half Full” by the Local Government Association (LGA)

• Be in line with the initiatives that focus on wellbeing and place-shaping

• Promote involvement at the population-level, not just in the commissioning process, but also to decide the activities to be commissioned

• Facilitate co-production of health care with 3rd-sector users and organisations

• Consider ways to invest in long-term outcomes and measure outcomes.

Consensus on the Common Hurdles

According to the U.K. Ministry of Housing, Local Communities and Government, there is a consensus on the common hurdles to asset-based commissioning that involve:

• A short-term focus

• A top-down approach

• Siloed working

• Transactional decision making, and

• Inability to leverage additional funding.

Annotated Commissioning Cycle

Here’s is the annotated commissioning cycle which explains the processes that are required to be incorporated into a commissioning cycle.

• Insight: Commissioning management organisations look beyond service data to create a detailed picture of how resources can be used in the most effective manner.

• Planning: Commissioners co-produce the framework for outcomes as well as measurement approach with people, and work with providers to build their capacity to co-produce and create awareness of social action, while taking decisions on procurement and funding.

• Delivery: Commissioning management ventures track environmental, social and economic value, collect insights to adapt and enhance services with time, and co-produce assessments of the services with people who use them.

5 Steps to Become More Asset-Based

• Shifting the Focus: Shift your thinking from simply considering services as assets to a place-based approach that aims to build and shape communities’ and people’s assets and that involves the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.

• Recognising People’s Contributions: Instead of considering organisations as the sole producers of results, acknowledge that outcomes are attained by communities, people, and organisations in collaboration.

Summary

• Asset-based commissioning is an approach that enables communities and people, along with organisations, to become equal co-producers and co-commissioners while making best complimentary use of all assets, via self-help, to enhance whole life as well as community outcomes.

• Find here approaches to commissioning that facilitate community building and community development. Also, learn about the processes that are required to be incorporated into a commissioning cycle, along with the five steps a commissioning management organisation can follow to become more asset-based.

• Sharing the Decision-Making: Instead of organisations consulting communities and people prior to taking decisions, ensure that communities and people are equal decision-makers from the beginning and throughout the process, with considerable investment in community groups to facilitate the same.