Co-production of public services in terms of Polish experience

Public administration has been facing incremental changes during last years. After New Public Management experiences, we are looking a new paradigm according which public management will follow. One of the answer is... [ view full abstract ]

Public administration has been facing incremental changes during last years. After New Public Management experiences, we are looking a new paradigm according which public management will follow. One of the answer is co-production of public services which is still a new phenomenon in Poland, therefore this paper gives first overview about it. The aim of this article is to examine how major cities – inhabited by more than two hundred thousand people - deal with this issue. In pursuit of this few question were asked – what kind of actions were made to engage citizen in co-production of public services; what motivation attract people to deliver public service. Author research legal and practical conditions according which co-production is implemented, range of services which are delivered and financial input which citizens involved. To prepare this article a few methods were used. The first step was desk research of legal circumstances of co-production of public services in terms of state and local acts. It is issued to answer what are drawbacks and incentives on legal basis to co-produce. The second step was survey among Polish major cities according which organisational effort of local administration, communication engagement in implementing co-production as well as financial support were checked. Discussing differences and similarities in profiles enables a more generalised understanding of the reasons why local governments and people co-produce or not. To sum up, rarely have local government entities implemented co-production in practise. There is still a lot to do in terms of promoting best practices and showing legal tools which work best.  However, few Polish cities are a good example which can be shown as a good practise in terms of international experiences. 

Keywords— co-production of public services, local government, public management, trust in public management