New development: Managing hybrid co-production with non-profit organizations—when distance helps and presence still matters

IMPACTPublic managers and non-profit practitioners increasingly need to organize co-produced services through a mix of physical meetings, online interactions and asynchronous document work. Based on a case of municipal social services in Italy, this article offers practical guidance for deciding when distance adds value and when it risks weakening co-production. The authors suggest that hybrid co-production should be designed by distinguishing activities that can be organized at a distance, such as co-ordination, reporting, monitoring and document work, from those that require presence, especially relational, sensitive, conflictual and user-facing activities. The article also highlights the managerial safeguards needed for hybrid arrangements: explicit responsibility for shared work, task-specific facilitation, document governance, differentiated communication and capacity support for smaller non-profit organizations.