The British High Commission has provided significant funding to develop youth leaders for the Samoa Victim Support Group.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain acting through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the Samoa Victim Support Group was signed by the Acting Deputy British High Commissioner and the SVSG President.

The MoU is for a grant of ST$32,570 from the British High Commission Apia, for the training and development of SVSG youth leaders, assisting in building capacity to advocate for and instigate valuable changes in their communities.

Part of the grant is to support the SVSG Youth Leaders in mobilizing local and international youth during the Commonwealth Youth Forum in October, to advocate for changes in youth behaviour towards addressing violence and supporting vulnerable youth.

Speaking on behalf of the United Kingdom, the Acting Deputy High Commissioner Ellie Boot said the British High Commission was delighted to support the delivery of valuable training for SVSG youth leaders.

“Thank you SVSG for your partnership, and continued leadership in tackling gender-based violence,” she said.

The President of SVSG Siliniu Lina Chang was grateful for the funding and acknowledged the United Kingdom's long term support for the organization.

"Thank you to the British High Commission for enabling SVSG to scale up its services through funding support for capacity building of the SVSG youth leaders,” she said.

This is the fourth grant that the British High Commission has supported SVSG with, comprised of the Train the trainer activity for counsellors of gender-based violence matters, the extension to the kitchen and dining facilities for the children survivors of violence at the Campus of Hope shelter facility, the capacity building for the Facilitators of the Offenders Program including a review of the Offenders Program Manual and the training of community leaders to provide psychological first aid and rehabilitative counselling to survivors and offenders of gender based violence.