A core principle of the Violence Reduction Network is to work with and for communities (including young people) as we know collaboration and drawing on community insights and expertise will enhance our understanding of violence and its causes whilst improving the effectiveness of local responses.

 

We aim to realise this through the development of a Community Oversight Group (COG) consisting of eight members from the community who have an established interest and experience within the violence prevention arena, particularly in relation to keeping young people safe.  

 

The COG directly influence, shape, and scrutinise the VRN’s interventions and projects through regular interactive meetings. It plays a vital role in overseeing the delivery of the VRN’s wider community involvement work with a view to ensuring it continuously develops in line with our community involvement framework. Members of the COG are paid to attend regular meetings led by the Director of the VRN, Grace Strong, and are also supported by other members of the VRN team.

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Membership

 

Members of the COG are Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland residents who have direct lived experience of violence and/or live or work in a community where violence takes place. All members are committed to the VRN’s core principles and key belief that violence is preventable, not inevitable.

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To ensure COG members are independent from current VRN activity, new members must not already be involved in any of the following:

• A delivery role within any VRN interventions.

• A community leader within the Community Leaders Network.

 

To ensure that communities most affected by violence are represented, members include people who meet one of the following criteria:
 

• Live or work in a community with higher levels of serious violence and/or

• Have lived experience of being affected by serious violence

We also know that younger adults (18-30 years), people with other protected characteristics and those with experience of the care system are disproportionately impacted by violence so encourage COG membership to reflect these.

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The Community Oversight Group began in earnest in May 2023 and  members held their posts for 12 months.