Working more closely and collaboratively with the local community plays a crucial part in the success of this Strategy. 

This can be through surveys, community meetings or organised projects. It is important that we take seriously our conversations and learning from community groups, where feelings of safety are raised, even where there may not be evidence of the actuality of such concerns.

VAWG-focused services need to be holistic. This means we need to listen to the needs of the community, because the prevalence, nature, and sources of VAWG can vary across boroughs, wards, and community groups.

This will help us have a clear local picture to assist strategic planning and respond appropriately, utilising partners’ resources and making best use of the public resources available to us to tackle VAWG.

This community-led response also seeks to empower and support communities to lead on the delivery of the Strategy in Bexley. This means that residents will take ownership of the call to action to tackle VAWG, with the partnership as their support.

Two key community groups are the education and business sectors. There is a clear need to ensure students and employees feel empowered to challenge, report and respond to VAWG. School and workplace policies and training sessions can demonstrate clearly that commitment.

Existing MOPAC-funded educational offers can be used to deliver such awareness sessions or other interventions in schools, based on the student cohort. Likewise, the partnership VAWG training offers can be utilised by businesses to improve their capacity to create a safe and inclusive workplace.

Similarly, we must recognise that for VAWG to take place means there are members of our community who are involved in criminality or contributing to the underlying narrative that perpetuates these abuses.

A priority community concern will be challenging their behaviour, offering ways out of crime, and showing that there are alternatives to what is/could become an entrenched lifestyle.