PREPARATION FOR THE SAMOA VILLAGE HEALTH SURVEY UNDERWAY
The Samoa Victim Support Group and the lead researcher l for the E.V.E Project (Evidence for Violence Prevention in the Extreme), Dr. Jenevieve Mannell conducted a training workshop today, for enumerators referred from the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS) to administer the Samoa Village Health Survey.
The workshop today was for the enumerators to learn about the purpose of the survey; to understand the roles and responsibilities of being an enumerator; and to discuss safety and ethical concerns for the survey.
The survey is specifically for the 10 villages (8 in Upolu and 2 in Savaii), that are part of the research study which looks at developing an indigenous approach to preventing violence against women.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been drawn up between SVSG and the SBS to ensure that the survey will be administered in accordance with the Samoa Statistics Act 2015.
The purpose of the survey is to understand the effectiveness of an intervention designed through the work of the EVE Team, which is made up of two SVSG village representatives from each of the 10 selected villages
There will be 1,300 women and 700 men from each of the 10 villages, invited to complete the survey. The training of the enumerators today is therefore very important in ensuring the safety of the participants, the integrity of the data collected and the completion of the survey on time.
A combination of male and female enumerators will be divided into two teams to administer the survey mid-December 2022. Each enumerator were also given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the use of tablets in which they will use to collect data from the survey.
According to the SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang, “the training of the enumerators for the Samoa Village Health Survey is part of SVSG’s 6 Days of Activism activity given the importance of the data collected from this survey and its contribution to the development of an intervention to reduce violence and improve the lives of women in Samoa.”
Background Information on Project:
The EVE Project is a research study led by University College London (UCL), and implemented in Samoa by
Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG), National University of Samoa (NUS), and the Samoa Bureau of
Statistics (SBS).
As part of the study, a Village Health Survey will be conducted with 1,650 people from the 10 participating
villages (1,300 women and 700 men). SVSG village representatives will invite a pre-specified list of people
to complete the survey and ensure there is a central location for the survey to take place.
Trained enumerators will assist participants in completing the survey on tablets. The project is funded by
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in the United Kingdom. We expect the survey will take 20 days in total
over a two-month period (end of November 2022 – January 2023).