The Nofotane Samoa Business Training for 100 Nofotane Women Role Models is underway, engaging 80 selected
role models in Upolu and 20 in Savai’i. The Training is part of the Nofotane Samoa Social Enterprise (NSSE) Project,
funded by the European Union, and implemented by the Samoa Victim Support Group.

The Business Training is an important component of the empowerment, the education, and the employment pillars
of the Survivor-centred approach by the Samoa Victim Support Group, to support the transition of the Nofotane
Program to a social enterprise. The Nofotane Product Quality Module was the first topic in the 3-module series
developed for the Nofotane Samoa Business Training.

It covers challenges faced by the Nofotane women entrepreneurs such as financial literacy, product quality, cost-
saving measures, packaging, marketing, and timely delivery. The challenges provided SVSG with the opportunity,
through the NSSE Project, to build the capacity of the Nofotane Women Role Models in Business Development

The Business Training also enables Nofotane entrepreneurs to enhance their expertise in establishing sustainable
businesses, which is crucial in setting up, operating, and sustaining the Nofotane Samoa Social Enterprise.

It is the vision of the NSSE Project to establish a NofotaneSamoa Social Entreprise representing financially
independent, socially empowered, and healthy Nofotane women.

In 2015, case data from the SVSG revealed that 85% of the 4,500 women survivors of violence who sought support
from SVSG (from 2005 – 2015) were unemployed Nofotane women. With a vision to economically empower these
women, SVSG supported the Nofotane women through likelihood skill training enabling them to earn an income,
which contributed to the recognition of their service or tautua in their husband’s families.

According to the SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang, “When SVSG took up the economic empowerment concept to
address gender inequality, it was not an attempt to change the cultural aspect of the FaaSamoa (the Samoan Way). A
nofotane woman will always be a nofotane. For this project to have a local impact, it must continue to be culturally
sensitive in achieving gender equality.”

President Siliniu enthusiastically stated, “These are exciting times for the Nofotane Women Role Models as we build
the capacity necessary to establish the Nofotane Samoa Social Enterprise. The ripple effect of the NSSE will see the
empowered women continuing to advocate for gender equality in their village communities, through livelihood skill
training for the young and older unemployed Nofotane women.