Salelologa Market works towards strengthening Market Governance and Disaster Preparedness

Apia, Samoa – The Markets for Change (M4C) Project was in Savaii this week to conduct a community disaster preparedness scoping exercise tailored for the Salelologa Market Vendors Association. Aiming to strengthen the capacity of the Salelologa Market Vendors Association (MVA), introduce new project staff, and conduct a gender-responsive disaster preparedness scoping workshop.

It brings together representatives from the M4C Project team, alongside the Salelologa MVA Executive, market management, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) and the Disaster Management Office (DMO) that is partnering with UN Women through the Markets for Change (M4C) Project to implement the Disaster Preparedness and Scoping exercise for the Salelologa Market Vendors Association. local government stakeholders. The initiative is part of M4C’s broader commitment to promoting gender equality and economic empowerment for women market vendors across Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

Key objectives of the mission include:

• Conducting progress update meetings with market management and MVA executives.
• Facilitating a comprehensive disaster risk management and preparedness scoping workshop tailored to the Salelologa market context.

The disaster preparedness workshop will assess local vulnerabilities, map hazard risks, and identify priority actions to enhance market resilience. The participatory approach will ensure that the voices of women vendors—who form the majority of the market community—are central to the planning and implementation of future disaster response strategies.

“This mission is a critical step in ensuring that market vendors, particularly women, are not only economically empowered but also equipped to respond to climate and disaster risks,” said Fesiliai Tulia Molimau-Iosefa, M4C National Project Coordinator. “By embedding resilience into market governance, we are building safer, more inclusive, and sustainable marketplaces.”

In 2023, a risk assessment was conducted by Samoa Red Cross, Samoa Fire, Emergency Services Authority for the Salelologa Market building, and it was reported that the market does not have an existing response plan for any type of emergency.  The assessments had also revealed the many challenges faced by women market vendors around their personal safety.  such as there is poor lighting inside the marketplace, many are broken and required maintenance, due to the condition of the market building, the floor becomes slippery when it rains and according to market vendors several o fatal incidents has happened putting the lives of customers and vendors in danger.   

“Before the training, we didn’t really think about what to do if a cyclone or flood hit while we were working. Now, we know how to protect ourselves, our families, and even our stalls. It gave us confidence to work together with the market management team to initiate a plan. That kind of knowledge is just as valuable as the goods we sell.” — Leatigaga Pele Galu Fa’amamafa - Tanuvasa, Market Vendor, Salelologa Market.

As safe, accessible and inclusive workplaces are critical for women’s economic empowerment.  This result helped informed the Market for Change Project, stakeholders including government and market management as well as market vendor associations on the situation in the market hence why this scoping workshop and exercise is taking place.

“The aim is that the findings from the scoping workshop will inform the development of a localized Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction Plan for Salelologa market aligned with Samoa’s national disaster frameworks and regional climate adaptation priorities,” said Asofa Vaatausili, Salelologa Market Manager Ministry of Lands and Survey.

The same exercise is expected to be carried out for Fugalei market and Savalalo market in the coming weeks.

The M4C project promotes gender equality through the economic empowerment of women market vendors in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. It brings together governments, market vendors and market vendor associations, civil society organisations and UN agencies. M4C Phase II is implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNDP Samoa and the Government of Australia together with the Government of Samoa.