Falefa Opens its Doors to a Research Study into Family Violence

The village of Falefa has opened its doors to a research study into family violence that is being coordinated by the Samoa Victim Support Group.

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The Samoa Village Health Survey is part of a research study into family violence in Samoa led by the University College of London (UCL) and jointly implemented by the SVSG, the National University of Samoa (NUS) and the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS).

This week the work reached the village of Falefa where a total of 180 participants, both men and women were surveyed according to an SVSG press release.

Patron and Mentor of the Falefa EVE Team members, afioga Paupusi Crichton played an important role to ensure the survey was well coordinated within the village.

A total of 10 villages (8 in Upolu and 2 in Savaii) were selected to be part of the research study’s efforts to develop an indigenous approach to preventing violence against women.

Falefa is the fifth out of ten selected villages to be surveyed in the research study which started in March 2020 for completion in 2024.

In each of the 10 villages, two EVE Team members (female and male) and a Mentor, have been selected from amongst the SVSG village representatives.

Since the project started, the EVE Team have been trained as local researchers to work closely with the lead researcher, Dr. Jenevieve Mannell from the UCL.

According to one of the enumerators, the respondents were happy to be a part of the survey, as they felt they were making a contribution towards ending violence against women and girls.

The research aims to understand the effectiveness of an intervention designed to address violence against women and girls.

This week, the SVSG Community team, together with the enumerators who were trained to administer the survey, are now continuing onto the big island of Savaii, for the survey administration for the villages of Fagaee and Taga.

The SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang acknowledged the support from the village of Falefa not only in hosting the survey administration, but also in participating as respondents.