FAQs
- Learn about a complicated topic
- Talk it through properly and deeply
- Come up with recommendations for the Council and its partners to follow.
- Gathers different views: it brings people together from different backgrounds in Maidstone.
- Leads to better decisions: it helps us understand the needs of our community and their priorities.
- Fosters safe conversations: the whole process is designed to be safe, but still encourages open, honest, and respectful discussion.
- Use these findings to decide what actions to take next.
- Use them to inform our new, wider VAWG strategy.
What is a community discussion?
This is where a group of local residents get together to:
It goes further than a standard survey; participants look at the facts, explore different points of view, and then decide on the best solution together.
Why is the Council using this approach for VAWG?
VAWG is a sensitive and complex topic, so the solutions need to be rooted in our community’s real experiences and ideas. A Community Discussion helps with this as it:
Who will be in the discussion?
We will have 36 residents taking part. These people will be chosen from those who volunteer. To make sure everyone feels safe talking about sensitive issues, the group will be split based on age and gender into adult women, teenage girls, adult men, teenage boys. All groups welcome and include trans and non-binary people.
Is this work only about women and girls?
The project is focused on reducing and preventing violence against women and girls because they are at a higher and unique risk. Our ultimate goal is to end all forms of violence.
By including all genders and ages in this work, we want to help everyone understand each other better, feel more empathy, and take collective responsibility for creating a community free from violence.
What will the Council do with the community’s ideas?
The ideas that come out of the Community Discussion will be the main guide for the Council and its partners. This means the Council will:
How can I get involved in the Community Discussion?
Community Discussion Group (age 16-18 years) - Click here to find out more about the Community Discussion (opens in a new window)
We are specifically recruiting a group of young people aged 16-18 (who live or study in Maidstone) to join and help shape these discussions. Your ideas will be turned into actions for the Council and its partners to take forward.
Participation in this group will require signed parental or guardian consent.
If you are interested in joining the discussion, you can fill out this short form to register your interest (opens in a new window)