Professor Edgar Cahn visits Antrim

Dr Edgar Cahn is the founder of Timebanking and the Co-production Principle.

He has dedicated his life to fighting injustice and poverty and seeking new ways to engage those most in need in finding solutions to local problems.

The co-production concept encourages organisations to work in partnership with the community to make decisions and implement processes.

A co-production pilot has recently been rolled out in Toome, where local residents have taken to the concept with relish, working together to produce an action plan to develop a more resilient, connected community.

The workshops were a great opportunity for the Toome residents to share their experiences to date with Professor Cahn, who was then able to provide his thoughts on future steps.

Representatives from central and local government, statutory and community and voluntary groups from all over Northern Ireland also attended the workshop to hear Professor Cahn’s key note speech.

This led on to a question and answer session on how co-production can be used across all sectors, how it relates to Timebanking, and the impact it can have for those most in need.

Clifford Todd, Head of Environmental Health in Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, said: “It was a great privilege to have Professor Cahn over with us to discuss co-production.

“The participants found the workshops to be of great benefit and we hope that we can continue to find ways to build this concept into future council projects.”