Outcome WSM_D_3.1

Women and men in target communities demonstrate support to survivors of violence and practice balanced power in their relationships

Progress was made across Samoa to contribute to this Outcome through strengthening the resources and knowledge of community members on how to dismantle harmful social and gender norms that perpetuate VAWG. Important progress was made in the following areas: Supporting community led interventions that adopt a human right based and “Do No Harm” approach UN Women continued its partnership with the NHRI [1] to deliver Phase 2 of their EVAWG strategy, which is to design and implement a targeted education programme for communities about the VFSC in Samoan/English, coordinate VFSC trainings ,and promote on VFSC in selected communities via media and knowledge products. NHRI will focus its engagement in 12 targeted villages to test the adoption of appropriate community level interventions that practice a human right based and “Do No Harm” approach. The VFSC initiative is multi-pronged with efforts to build the committees themselves, facilitate trainings, ensure links to existing services and foster networks among trusted women and men who are already in leadership positions in their communities. The objective is to break the silence surrounding family violence, support survivors of violence to seek assistance and reduce acceptance for VAWG in communities and village life. UN Women is specifically supporting the design and delivery of the Village-Based Advocates Against Family Violence Talanoa Toolkit: Facilitating Conversations and Dialogues to Address Family Violence in Samoan Communities [2] . In 2021, the Toolkit was developed, field tested, translated and designed for launch and roll out on International Women’s Day in March 2022. UN Women provided substantive technical support to NHRI in the revisions process of the toolkit to ensure that best practice standards were utilized and consistency with the normative framework were upheld. The Toolkit explicitly outlines the roles and responsibilities of village advocates and demarcates the role of the provision of services for survivors of violence to identified service providers in line with the Samoa IESG. As such, advocates are informed, through this Toolkit, on how to receive a disclosure of violence using survivor-centred principles, how to refer to existing services and how to support survivors in their decision-making process on when to seek support. [1] As the only institution directly involved in gathering, collating, and drafting the information collected for the national inquiry, the NHRI/Ombudsman Office is key to the delivery of the VFSCs. The NHRI also has the unique ability to pull together agencies of the Government of Samoa to support these endeavours and meet the requirements of a human rights-based approach to delivery, meeting global standards. [2] In line with a holistic and national coordinated approach to ending violence in Samoa driven by the Fa’asamoa, Faith and human rights framework, this Toolkit is a prevention tool which provides a guide for any village-based advocate against family violence in Samoa (VBA) for facilitating conversations and dialogues to address family violence in community and family settings. The overall purpose of the Toolkit is to ensure that conversations about addressing family violence are guided by consistent, culturally specific, survivor centred including perpetrator, appropriate and relevant messaging that will deliver positive outcomes for victims/survivors (including perpetuators) of family violence.

Women and men in target communities demonstrate support to survivors of violence and practice balanced power in their relationships

Efforts to implement a transformative approach to promote gender equality and prevent VAWG at community level are progressing and are complementary to efforts undertaken through the Spotlight Initiative Samoa Country Programme. Primary interventions include implementation of the Get Into Rugby Plus (GIR+) programme, which expanded to the island of Savaii and solidified strong relationships between Lakapi Samoa and Ministry of Women, Children and Social Development (MWCSD). The GIR+ programme has demonstrated how pairing life skills curriculum with rugby can facilitate gender equality practices between girls and boys and challenge gendered norms within communities and families. Primary prevention efforts also focused on strengthening the skills and capacities of the Village Family Safety Committee s (VFSC) in partnership with Samoa's National Human Rights Institute (NHRI). These committees are set up in every village in Samoa, and implement community-based approaches as a means of bolstering systems of accountability for GBV and facilitating recovery and support for survivors. These approaches are serving three crucial functions in the communities: 1) educating community members and service providers, 2) offering support to victims, and 3) reinforcing institutional capacity. The VFSCs are also playing an important role in linking community members to service providers. The presence of VFSCs provides women and girls with reassurance of their protection and safety and their ability to pursue justice and other support. UN Women strengthened engagement with Nuanua Le Alofa (NOLA) , a national organization representing people with disabilities. NOLA has promoted the human rights of all women through prevention related messaging and increasing the knowledge and skills of women with disabilities on VAWG, their rights, how to access services while documenting recommendations on how to increase accessibility for people with a disability.