A TIMELY SUPPORT AMIDST THE COVID-19

​Eleven households relying on subsistence agriculture for a living, plus the children residence at the Campus of Hope, are the beneficiaries of a grant received by the Samoa Victim Support Group from the Australian High Commission under its Direct Aid Program (DAP).
 
Valued at ST20,000, the grant is to assist with sustaining the income generation activities of nofotane women farmers under SVSG’s economic empowerment program.  This is through purchasing garden tools, seedlings and a 1 x 1,000 litre water tank per household; 8 in Upolu, 3 in Savaii and 1 for children of hope.
 
Since the successful completion of the SVSG’s economic empowerment project in 2018 with the UN Women FGE, the Group continues to source out funding opportunities to support the sustainability of self-employed nofotane women, borne out of this program.  Most of the funding to date benefited the commercial cooking earners, the handicraft making and the weavers.
 
With the DAP grant, SVSG can now support our nofotane women farmers, who have braved the sun with minimum resources to cultivate their land and harvest enough crops to provide for their family needs, with a little surplus to sell in the local market to ean an income.  Most of these nofotane women farmers are from the rural villages; some live further inland from the main road, hence have limited access to water.
 
Part of this project is for SVSG to link the nofotane farmers with markets for their products, and we have established co-partnerships with hotels in Upolu and Savaii to this effect.
 
With preparation for the COVID-19 being the norm in our daily lives today, the grant from the Australian High Commission could not have come at a better time.
 
“Thank you so much to Her Excellency Ms. Sara Moriarty for granting us this opportunity to further support our nofotane women farmers through the Direct Aid Program.” Siliniu Lina Chang, SVSG President