Over 100 men and women in Vaie'e Safata participated in the Samoa village health survey that was conducted over a two-day period as part of an international research study into violence prevention.

The Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG), in a media release issued on Thursday, said 109 men and women took part in a survey that is part of The EVE Project (Evidence for Violence prevention in the Extreme). The project is part of a research study led by the University College London and is implemented in Samoa by the SVSG, the National University of Samoa (NUS) and the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS).

As part of the international study, the survey looks at understanding the effectiveness of an intervention designed to address violence against women and girls.

According to the enumerators tasked to conduct the survey, the village of Vaie'e were eager participants. They gathered at the allocated venue on time, were all dressed up, and were ready to take part in the survey component of the research study, which looks at developing indigenous approaches to preventing violence against women.

The lead researcher of the study, Dr. Jenevieve Mannell, expressed her gratitude to the village leaders for their support as well as the Vaie'e The EVE Project team members who are SVSG village representatives, for such a well coordinated survey.

The SVSG President, Siliniu Lina Chang said in the statement that representatives from her non-profit organisation, were trained as local researchers to assist the study.

“SVSG have selected 20 village representatives from 10 villages to develop an approach for researching violence against women that works within the Fa’a Samoa (‘the Samoan way’)," Siliniu said. 

"Since the research started, the SVSG village representatives have been trained as local researchers to assist with the study, and we are so proud of their commitment to date.”

The EVE Project is a research study conducted in partnership with local villages to develop an indigenous approach to preventing violence against women and is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and based at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom. 

The EVE Project, referred to locally as E Le Sauā le Alofa (Love Shouldn’t Hurt), is a four-year research study that started in March 2020.