A Digicel initiative to donate $50,000 to community projects was announced at the company’s headquarters on Friday. 

The "Go Big on Community" initiative was launched in celebration of Digicel reaching 100 per cent (Long-Term Evolution) L.T.E. coverage across all company broadcast sites in Samoa. 

Long-Term Evolution is a standard for increasing the capacity and speed of wireless broadband. 

Digicel Samoa's Chief Executive Officer, Mark Witthuhn, and Chief of Operations, Agnes Fruean, outlined the criteria for applying for the grants. 

"We are going big in supporting communities and we want to provide much-needed help to our people,”  Mr. Witthuhn said. 

“This funding will help individuals or groups implement projects to uplift local communities at the village levels and the community as a whole.

" We invite you to send in your ideas to address health, education, youth empowerment, sustainable livelihoods, community safety and more.

"This year we wanted to celebrate our proactive involvement in community development by focusing on ensuring that our investment would touch the hearts of the people.

"Our fellow Samoan people are going through tough times during the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to bring  hope, confidence and a sense of belief back in our local communities." 

Digicel has made charitable contributions before including to relief supplies during natural disasters; the Ray of Hope Maternity Shelter at the Samoa Victims Support Group; Tevi's Learning Centre at Samoa Primary School and others. 

It has also assisted the Samoa Kidney Foundation and other organisations in the health sector; and sporting events including sponsoring teams such as at the Samoa Special Olympics last year and the World Games. 

The mobile company’s Regional C.E.O., Pacific Group, Shallty Jannif, said in a press release that the launch of the campaign in Samoa was an exciting moment. She said that Digicel has contributed a lot to community efforts before and will continue to do so.. 

"I am thrilled to see Digicel Samoa launch the ‘Go Big Samoa’ campaign, $50,000 community grants initiative today," Ms. Jannif said 

"Digicel has always been at the forefront of supporting communities in the region. Recently we bought equipment and furnished a new computer lab and we have done more community-based projects which have impacted the lives of Pacific people in Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Nauru.”

Interested applicants are encouraged to register their idea of a project they wish to establish by visiting www.gobigsamoa.com with selected ideas to be awarded grants.  Entries are open to Samoan residents and will close on 20 October.