[𝐊𝐄𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒]: It is my honour and privilege to join you today for the official launching of the Project Safe and Resilient Samoa: Strengthening Families and Communities for a Drug-Free Future.

Children and adolescents are the heart of Samoa’s future and the greatest inheritance we hold as a nation. When our young people are protected, nurtured, and given hope, they grow into strong citizens who uplift their families, strengthen our villages, and carry Samoa forward with pride.

This project comes at a critical time. It recognises that prevention is far more effective, sustainable, and compassionate than treatment alone.

The Government has already taken important early steps through prevention efforts led across communities, including the Say No to Drugs, Say No to Violence Campaign from 2024 to 2025. This momentum will continue through expansion to Upolu, strengthening outreach across Samoa for 2026.

This initiative also aligns closely with the Government of Samoa’s national priorities. It reflects a true whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.

Importantly, this Project has been built through collaboration — with early community prevention foundations and gap identification through the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development, implementation leadership now coordinated through the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, and critical health partnership through the Ministry of Health.

Community reporting through village networks, such as our Sui o Nuu, Sui Tama’ita’i o Nu’u, and local leadership structures, has also highlighted drug use, youth distress, and violence as growing concerns requiring a coordinated national response.

I wish to acknowledge our implementing agencies including the focal points of the Community, Law and Justice and the Health Sectors, and our civil society organisations.

As we launch this project today – let us ensure prevention messages are culturally grounded. Let us also strengthen pathways for rehabilitation, reintegration, and family support so that no young person is left behind.

When our children are safe, our youth are strong, and our families are supported, our villages will prosper — and that is the true vision of Aiga ma Nu’u Manuia for Samoa.

It is now my pleasure to formally launch the Project Safe and Resilient Samoa: Strengthening Families and Communities for a Drug-Free Future.

Soifua ma ia manuia