Building on the foundations of the five-year Project Dewi programme, we are embarking on a new phase of strategic, project-driven support. We are working alongside Public Services Boards (PSBs) to embed co-production and meaningful involvement into their everyday practice.
We had some great success stories from Project Dewi, and we’d love to share two great stories that might inspire you to get involved in our new project.
Newborough
Newborough (Niwbwrch) is situated in the southern corner of the Isle of Anglesey. A popular tourist attraction, the area has had the kind of social media exposure that brings in tourists (brilliant!) but with them traffic problems (always an issue). As with many tourist destinations, the push-pull of positive impact with frustrations for locals was causing issues. Added into the mix, the area is a Special Area of Conservation and balancing the recreation, tourism, environmental protection and biodiversity priorities, along with business needs and traffic chaos was quite the challenge.
Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board took a collaborative approach to solving these issues. Using a hackathon event in spring 2024 to kick off the project. This was followed up by regular drop-in sessions where via an ‘open door’ system residents, frontline staff, and regional leaders could talk informally. These sessions built mutual trust, ensuring community members felt genuinely heard while allowing public bodies to coordinate everything from park runs to road closures. The co-production of this project was achieved when local community members joined the PSB working group as equal decision-makers.
While long-term traffic management solutions are still evolving, rather than waiting to create a ‘perfect’ fix without input from all areas of the community, there has been prototyping and trials- including a local park and ride scheme and adjustments to beach parking to manage visitor pressures. While the traffic management is still a work in progress, the public services’ way of working has been permanently changed- building a relationship between communities and authorities. The Newborough 10-year Community Development plan now has input from the communities it affects, and moving forward shared power and involvement have been embedded into ways of working in the community.
For a more in-depth look at the work Newborough did, you can read the full case study here.
NEWCC
Successful projects often build on existing relationships and that is exactly what North East Wales Community Cohesion project did. Since 2019 NEWCC has been creating environments for inclusion across the region. The team are funded by the Welsh Government and hosted by Wrexham County Council and they move between local authorities, partner organisations and communities to create projects that foster a sense of belonging in the region.
They specialise in championing marginalised and isolated groups, with projects that have included a focus on ethnically diverse communities, refugees, asylum seekers, disabled people and LGBTQ+ youth. NEWCC uses co-productive, partnership-driven approaches to amplify local voices.
Diverse Together is a pan-North Wales event funded through the Regional Engagement Grant and led by the Community Cohesion team. As part of our Project Dewi work, we were part of the planning group for Diverse Together 2025, supporting the team to embed co-production principles through the design, delivery and evaluation of the event. Rather than being planned solely by public sector organisations, the conference was shaped through extensive involvement with communities and partner organisations, ensuring that the agenda and attendee experience was influenced by a wider range of voices.
Diverse Together 2025 brought together more than 160 people, including community representatives, Public Services Board members and professionals from across sectors. The event itself was inclusive and welcoming, and fostered excellent discussion and listening between public bodies, third sector organisations and members of the public. The event was recognised as a model of good practice, with its co-productive approach influencing the planning of similar initiatives elsewhere – including by the Wrexham City Board. NEWCC went on to plan and deliver Diverse Together 2026 which was even better and stronger than before, and we’re excited to see this event grow.
As well as this annual event, NEWCC are able to create a wide variety of projects that reflect the communities they work with because of the co-production approach. This kind of trust-building across communities takes time, but the kind of projects and impact created illustrates just how effective it can be. Most importantly, projects like these create lasting community impact and strength.
For a more in-depth look at the work NEWCC did, you can read the full case study here.
These are just two of the ways co-production can help a community- and the organisations who work with that community. Our new project is designed to help support long-term co-production across Wales through the work of PSBs.
How to get involved
Building on the success of great projects like these- and learning along the way- the goal is to help PSBs address key priorities, cultivate deeper community ties, and generate a wealth of shared learning for all of Wales. This offer is open to all PSBs, not just those previously supported through Project Dewi. We’re always happy to hear from new people and explore how we can collaborate to help build a fairer, more sustainable Wales where everyone has a voice that is heard. This project runs until Summer 2027.
The project looks slightly different this time- we’ve shifted the approach to a more collaborative, resources-sharing approach. We want this to be a collaborative process, we’ll work with you from the initial idea to create an application and develop the project. In return, PSBs commit their own resources and capacity, which helps to embed involvement into everyday practice- this will look like: Match capacity and a minimum 10% match funding.
If you have a project you think would benefit from our support we’d love to hear from you.
Applications are open now. Contact Emily Garside (emily@copronet.wales) to set up an initial meeting.