Afterword (About the Project)

Expert Link was funded by Trust for London to work with homelessness Day Centres across London to develop their ways of working so that people accessing the services are treated as equal partners in strategic decisions within them.

A key aim was for those accessing services will also be empowered to collectively influence key Government policies affecting rough sleepers in London.

Expert Link delivered a training programme for Day Centre staff across the four Day Centres to support them begin the process of meaningfully engaging people accessing the service.

We targeted attendees with key influence over initiating or embedding co-production within their service. The training covered topics identified as key learning for everyone involved, such as: Incentivising colleagues and beneficiaries, Connecting as equals, Understanding roles and responsibilities and Keeping groups motivated.

Holding monthly conversations gathered people involved in the project to have conversations to address key challenges and best practices. Through gathering and summarising all learning from check-ins, training and monthly conversations all project participants has had a role in co-producing this guidance.

People involved in the project also were able to reach out to each other independently for advice and potential collaboration. It became a real community.

Everyone involved in the project has access to guidance, blogs and vlogs which build on the experiences from our large network of key factors involved in this sector.

Please share this guidance with colleagues across the sector. It can also be found online with an additional resource hub here:

If you have any feedback, or would like to feed in to further iterations of the guidance, please contact Expert Link on: info@expertlink.org.uk

“I probably would have quit actually, I'd have been just like that. But co-production I was interested in. It’s been inspiring and motivating”

“It's been so valuable to me to have you guys there as a sounding board for ideas” 

“Building up steam and motivation to influence further and wider beyond our organizations. I think that's really exciting”