On the 25th day of every month of the year, millions of people around the world show their support for ending violence against women and girls by wearing orange and taking part in events and activities.
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In an effort to build awareness, visibility and momentum for this campaign in Samoa, UN Women and Digicel Samoa are launching a national text campaign.
Starting in April, every Orange Day UN Women and Digicel Samoa will be sending out a national text message on the 25th of every month with empowering messages for the Samoan community to serve both as a reminder and a call for action.
The partnership is a continuation of last year’s successful “16 Ways to End Violence” campaign that ran during the 16 Days of Activism to end Gender-Based Violence, from November 25-December 10. As part of the campaign, Digicel sponsored UN Women’s “16 Ways to End Violence against Women” photography contest and promoted the brochure through local newspapers and via social media.
Violence against women and girls is a global pandemic and a serious issue in Samoa; 46 per cent of the country’s women experience physical and/ or sexual violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime, while 62 per cent experience physical violence from a non-partner. The monthly Orange Day is part of the countdown to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25. In April Orange Day is especially calling on men and boys to stand up and speak out about violence against women and girls in their communities, and to show their support for ending it by wearing orange and signing on to UN Women’s HeForShe campaign.
HeForShe is a global solidarity campaign to end gender inequality that was launched in 2014. It calls on men and boys to support women in not only calling for an end to gender inequality, but in taking action to change attitudes, behaviours and policies around the world.
In a further sign of Digicel Samoa’s commitment to gender equality, senior management – including the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operations Officer – signed on to HeForShe ahead of April’s Orange Day.
“Ending gender inequality and violence against women requires the efforts of women and men, girls and boys, the private sector, governments and civil society,” says UN Women’s Deputy Representative at the Fiji Multi- Country Office, Nicolas Burniat. “Mobile technology is a particularly effective way of spreading that message to a wide variety of people in both urban and rural areas of Samoa, so it is fantastic to have Digicel Samoa’s support, both for ending violence against women and our HeForShe campaign.”
Digicel Samoa’s CEO, Fia’ailetoa Pepe Christian Fruean, agrees.
“Digicel is committed to gender equality by actively supporting the advancement of women through job creation in the area of ICT.”
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