Village leaders including leading women, from the Faasaleleaga No. 2 constituency in Savaii, gathered at Tuasivi, for the second consecutive session of trainings for SVSG village representatives.
 
This is part of the SVSG and the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality Project currently underway, supporting the economic empowerment of nofotane (a woman who marries into a family) women.
 
25 SVSG village representatives from 7 villages including Siufaga, Salimu, Faga, Malae, Saipipi, Saasaai and Lano were empowered during the 3-day session, on how to effectively advocate to their respective village councils, women’s committee and the villagers, to support the economic empowerment of nofotane women.
 
While majority of the participants commented on supporting the improvement in the recognition and the participation of nofotane women that comes with being economically empowered, culturally, nofotane women should know their place in the community.  And SVSG fully supports these views; Nofotane women will always be a nofotane; the project is not attempting to change this cultural aspect of the FaaSamoa.  The project merely aims to improve the economic empowerment of women and to increase their participation in domestic and community matters.   This is because the capacity of women to bring about economic change for themselves, families and communities, is one of the most important contributing factors to achieving gender equality.

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