A new paper “Development Geography I: Co-production” has just been published in the journal Progress in Human Geography. The paper, which is a progress report to review developments around a certain topic, was written by Katharine Vincent, and draws on experiences in the Future Climate for Africa programme, and others.
Co-production of knowledge is a promising approach to promote more just and sustainable development outcomes. However, co-production covers many approaches, with a cleavage between those focusing on outcomes and the production of actionable knowledge; and those focusing on process and inclusion of multiple voices. There is not always dedicated commitment to identify and confront the embodied power relations nor the knowledge systems among the participants in the process. Yet, the politics of configuring knowledge cannot be ignored. In this progress report, Katharine argues that learning from the experiences and pitfalls of participatory development is essential if co-production is to meet its transformative potential.