Gender Equality Researcher appointed new CEO of the Ministry of Women

Gender Equality Researcher appointed new CEO of Ministry of Women

By Talaia Mika

APIA, SAMOA – 09 MARCH 2022: A day after the celebration of the International Women’s Day, a woman has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development.

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa announced today the appointment of Dr. Mema Motusaga as endorsed by Cabinet.

Dr. Motusaga is a gender equality researcher and obtained her PhD from Victoria University and had served in the Ministry for several years as well as the National University of Samoa.

Her recent employment was at the South Pacific Community.

The position was advertised by the Public Service Commission in August last year when the contract for the former CEO expired.

Dr. Motusaga’s doctoral thesis, Women in Decision Making in Samoa discusses the introduction of temporary special measures that resulted in the introduction of a gender quota in Samoa’s parliament.

Governments $1 million tala Village Development Project
Her appointment is crucial to the FAST Government’s new policy initiative that allocates $1 million tala annually for all 51 electoral constituencies for village based and oriented development projects.

The project aims at elevating the overall economic and social development of the country especially in the rural areas. The policy in the party’s Manifesto, aims to decentralise the control and management of the projects to the respective village based Development Committees for each of the 51 electoral constituencies.

Already, $200, 000 tala is allocated in the current budget for each of the 51 constituencies to establish their offices, staff and administrative requirements with the Committees to be legally registered under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour.

The Ministry of Women and Social Development is the central implementing arm and will work closely with core Ministries such as Agriculture & Fisheries and the Ministry of Finance in delivering and monitoring the progress and sustainability of the project.