A young woman with a one-day child took shelter at the Sakura House, a temporary refuge for women and children seeking a safe space on Wednesday.

The young woman came straight to the shelter after she was discharged from the hospital.

They had been there overnight when Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Campbell paid a visit to see how Australia could better support the work done by the Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG).

This was a first-hand experience of what women and children in Samoa are faced with.

The secure and peaceful environment at the Sakura House provided a safe space for the young mother to rest, recover from her birthing, undertake counseling support, and heal.

In a statement by SVSG, they said the meeting provided SVSG with the opportunity to share its work in the gender equality space in Samoa; its case management services, the Helpline service and the need for operators 24 hours and seven days a week, the SVSG village representatives, trained under the Samoa Gender Partnership Program (SGPP), as well as the organisational strengthening as an outcome of the SGPP.

The conversations also covered the causes of violence affecting women, financial distress, poverty which increases the vulnerability of the most marginalised population, support for more economic opportunities for women, better representation in decision-making, and greater protection from gender-based violence.

The success of the Nofotane Program by SVSG was discussed and how the economic empowerment concept has been adopted to other areas of SVSG’s work, such as addressing child labour, and influencing behavioural change for women offenders of violence.

“The partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as one of the grantees of the Samoa Gender Partnership Program through the Tautua, enabled SVSG to build a stronger community approach towards GBV responsiveness,” said the SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang.

“This is through its village representatives, its support services, its behavioural change programs for offenders of violence, and a stronger organizational capacity.

“The visit and the meeting with Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality reiterated the importance of women’s role in taking action, and amplifying the call to action, towards gender equality in Samoa.”