Are you part of the Gift Economy?

In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods or services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. I have been thinking about the notion of a gift ecomony since Patient Opinion bench marked the idea at their MyPublicService conference. As cliché as it may sound there is no greater gift than the gift of life and there is a service crying out for our help - an urgent appeal has been made for people to donate blood because the cold snap has hit supplies.

The words co-production, citizenship and co-creation rarely leave my radar at the moment and I really can't think of a better way to be an active citizen and be part of co-production than giving blood!

A cup of tea and a biscuit later, you will have saved a life...

Just three teaspoons of blood can save the life of a premature baby. It is estimated that 55,000 new donors are needed across Scotland to maintain supplies for next year so let's  get on it!... go to the Scottish National blood Transfusion Service website

Photo credit: Jeniee