ABSTRACT
Across France, associations called centres sociaux, which roughly translates to social centres in English, provide a range of services and activities to promote community development. Co-production takes place between professionals and local residents at the stage of planning and defining organisational strategy, as well as in delivering services and projects. This chapter presents a case study which focuses on five social centres located in Lyon and the ways in which co-production has developed and takes place. In practice, co-production in the Lyon social centres takes place in two main areas—the creation of organisational strategies and plans, and the promotion and support of citizen-led projects. Social centres undertake co-production in promoting projects that are citizen-led and supported by paid professionals. Teenagers at the social centre's youth club expressed the desire to develop a volunteering and fundraising project to build an orphanage in Africa, which was supported by staff at the organisation, helping them to develop the necessary skills.
