Navigators are based in priority places and provide advice, guidance and support to local partnerships and communities to find interventions and opportunities to prevent and reduce violence. They develop connections between services and systems and support the development of effective referral pathways into key services. They ensure support is available to communities in the aftermath of serious violence which is critical to preventing the onward transmission of violence and limiting the impact of trauma related to incidents.
Navigators provide opportunities to access a range of training that can build understanding of the role everyone can play in violence prevention and reduction. They deliver the VRP Core Offer and support local organisations in finding funding, accessing training and to become part of the local systems, including providing access to stakeholder networks.
No single intervention alone can reduce and prevent violence, in priority places the delivery team works with local stakeholders, communities and young people to understand what is available, respond to gaps in provision and strive towards sustainable whole system, place based approaches. A key step in achieving this is setting up, or contributing to existing, stakeholder networks that provide opportunities for local people to meet regularly around the issue of violence prevention and reduction. These networks bring services together, in an effort to maximise resources and avoid silo ways of working. The ambition for the networks is that they support a long term approach to reducing violence.
