Co-producing With Young People in the Third Sector: A Scoping Review and Future Research Agenda

This article presents a scoping review which aims to unpack current understandings of young people’s co-production within third-sector organizations. We reviewed 31 articles about young people’s third-sector services and identified three major stakeholder groups: young people, frontline practitioners and organizations, each with their own requirements in terms of support and guidance. Furthermore, while co-production might be an attractive prospect to policymakers, the transitional nature of youth presents bespoke challenges to success for this diverse demographic. Considering the existing evidence in the field, this paper summarizes key knowledge, debates and tensions, while pointing towards a future research agenda and study implications. It also contributes a synthesized understanding of how, why and under what conditions young people co-produce third-sector services, highlighting the need for tailored support, practitioner training and policy frameworks that move co-production with youth from a policy objective to sustainable practice.