Written by:  Jennifer F. Tofaeono, Executive Dir

The American Samoa Alliance Against Domestic & Sexual Violence is proud to continue its work through the CDC’s Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program. This critical initiative is designed to stop sexual violence before it occurs—by addressing the root causes of rape, promoting healthy relationships, and advancing primary prevention strategies tailored to our unique cultural context.

It has been an honor to continue our work thru the CDC Rape Prevention & Education (RPE) Program.  The critical purpose of the grant is to stop sexual violence BEFORE it happens.  Thru our work we unpack conversations about the root causes of rape, we encourage promoting healthy relationships and advancing primary prevention strategies through the project to stop sexual violence before it happens.  All these approaches are designed to meet the needs of native Samoan indigenous people, and other Pasifika Islanders (i.e. Fijian, Tongan, Maori, etc) who reside in American Samoa.

At its core, the RPE Program supports community-based prevention, working with indigenous Samoan youth, families, educators, and community leaders to reshape attitudes and beliefs surrounding sexual assault. In American Samoa, the Alliance integrates Fa’aSamoa values—such as fa’aaloalo (respect), alofa (compassion), and tautua (service)—into all educational efforts to ensure messages are both culturally grounded and transformative.

Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, we continue to learn from our community about their views on sexual assault. These conversations reveal important insights: many still find it difficult to talk openly about rape, and some are unsure of how to support survivors or prevent harm. This feedback shapes the work we do. For example, we are developing more youth-centered workshops and increasing outreach through schools and churches, where trusted relationships can help break the silence and promote change.

The RPE Program also emphasizes the importance of bystander intervention, consent education, and the prevention of dating violence. These tools empower individuals to recognize unsafe situations, speak up, and support one another. Prevention education does not only protect future victims—it fosters a culture of safety, accountability, and healing.

By listening to our community and building prevention rooted in both research and tradition, we can shift harmful norms and reduce the risk of sexual violence in our homes, schools, and villages.
As we move forward, the Alliance remains committed to raising awareness, building resilience, and advancing healing through education. Let us continue this work together, guided by the Word—spoken with truth, shared with purpose, and lived through action.
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If you are interested in participating in a survey, interview, or focus group to share your voice and help shape our prevention efforts, we welcome your input. Please contact our Communications Department or Executive Director Jennifer Tofaeono at (684) 699-0272. Our office is open Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Join us in creating a safer American Samoa for all.

Written by:  Jennifer Tofaeono, Chat AI
 
Since October the  Alliance Team has been talking with members of the community, and service providers to gather feedback o n health equity and rape prevention education in American Samoa.   What we have so far uncovered has provided us some interesting insights, where respondents provided information on challenges and strengths in our ability to address these critical issues in our island.   

In this article we share some of the key findings from  participants who shared their insights regarding health equity, and  the availability of healthcare services through Medicaid and outreach programs offering free vaccines and flu shots. However, equity remains a concern, particularly for immigrant residents who face higher healthcare costs. Cultural norms, such as prioritizing elders over individuals with urgent medical needs, and language barriers further complicate equitable access. For example, non-Samoan-speaking patients struggle to communicate effectively with medical professionals, leading to misdiagnoses and inadequate care.

Language barriers were repeatedly emphasized as a significant obstacle to accessing healthcare and understanding medical procedures. Additionally, cultural practices often discourage victims of sexual violence from seeking help due to fear of family embarrassment and societal stigma. These challenges perpetuate silence and unaddressed trauma, particularly in cases of incest or intimate partner violence.

When asked what their knowledge was of Rape Prevention Education in the Territory, they underscored the need for enhanced rape prevention education within the community. Suggestions included incorporating comprehensive sex education in schools and churches, focusing on consent, safe sex practices, and recognizing signs of sexual assault. Participants emphasized the importance of community awareness campaigns to dismantle misconceptions about sex education, such as the belief that it encourages sexual activity.

Cultural norms and generational attitudes were identified as barriers to victims seeking support. Despite the availability of resources, victims often face fear and shame that prevent them from accessing help. Workshops addressing mental health and substance abuse were noted as effective but insufficient; participants called for more programs to build community understanding and resilience.

Partners advocated for stronger partnerships between the hospital, law enforcement, and community organizations to enhance rape prevention and support services. The need for training first responders—police, medical personnel, and community leaders—was highlighted to ensure sensitive handling of cases and comprehensive support for victims. Schools, churches, and community groups were identified as critical venues for hosting workshops and raising awareness about rape prevention.

Actionable Recommendations-- (please note these are preliminary discussions)

1. Improve Access to Healthcare: Address affordability and accessibility for immigrants and marginalized groups by exploring policy changes and partnerships.
2. Reduce Language Barriers: Implement interpretation and translation services in healthcare settings to improve communication and understanding.
3. Enhance Rape Prevention Education: Integrate comprehensive sex education in school and church curricula, emphasizing consent and prevention.
4. Strengthen Support Networks: Train first responders and community leaders to provide victim-centered care and build trust in available resources.
5. Increase Resource Visibility: Disseminate information on rape prevention and support services through public spaces such as hospitals, buses, and schools.

What the Alliance will continue to do is gain feedback from community members and service providers the recent discussions underscores the urgency of addressing health equity and strengthening rape prevention education in American Samoa. By fostering partnerships, enhancing education, and reducing barriers, the CDC RPE team can work with local organizations to create a safer and more equitable community. The journey ahead will require collaboration, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to empowering all residents, particularly the most vulnerable.

Written by: Luana Scanlan 
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The Alliance’s Rape Prevention Education (RPE) Program aims to give people knowledge and skills to prevent sexual violence and provide support to those who may have experienced it in their lives.
Sexual violence includes, rape, the threat of rape, attempted rape, sexual harassment, sexual coercion and forced sexual contact. Anyone can be a victim or violator regardless of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or ability.
Preventing sexual violence requires that we not make assumptions or generalizations about people in our community – our ethnic, church, work, family, friend, and home communities. Each person experiences and thinks about sexual behavior in unique ways. Do not assume. Do not think everyone of a specific gender, religion, ethnicity, etc. is the same.
You can practice three behaviors to prevent sexual violence, which means making sure that it never happens in the first place.
1. CONSENT - Maliega e Auai
A person gives consent when he/she/they feel free to say how they really feel about something, and without feeling pressured into doing something that they don’t want to do.
There are three times in particular, where people may not have the ability to provide consent:

• if they are under 18 years old. 
• if they are drunk or high.
• if they are being forced, pressured or threatened by someone overpowering them. 

 
4 steps to consent
First, understand what you are comfortable with.  Second, ask the person you are with the same thing. It’s best to have direct conversations so that there’s no room for confusion. It can be simple questions like, ‘Are you okay with kissing?’, or ‘Do you feel safe in our being together like this?’ 
Third, understand what you are comfortable with. Fourth, practice your ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ to build confidence in standing up for what you want. 
Listening is an important part of consent.  When listening be aware of body language as well as what is being said out loud. If someone is saying 'Maybe', 'I’m not sure', starts backing away, is staying really still or being silent they are not saying yes - they are not giving consent. 
Consent may look and sound like:
·         Yes!
·         I really want to...
·         I want you/this/that
·         This feels right
·         I’m okay with this/that
 
Sex without consent is sexual violence…Someone staying silent or saying maybe is not consent.
 
2. RESPECT – Fa’aaloalo
Respect can look different in all the different relationships that we have. First and foremost is respect for yourself – your rights, values, safety.
Respect also means never forcing, pressuring or guilting someone into doing something they don’t want to do. Asking for consent is respectful.
3. SUPPORT - Lagolago
People heal from sexual violence in different ways and at different speeds. For some people sometimes it is about getting through one day at a time. Supporting those at risk will prevent violence from happening in the first place.
Finally, preventing sexual violence involves reporting what you see and experience in ways that you feel do not put you in harm’s way.

Written by: Luana Scanlan

​How the Alliance is Developing Primary Prevention for Our Community Connecting with the community is the Alliance’s main strategy for all of its prevention efforts.  ‘Connecting’ involves showing up to our partners’ events, building relationships that support our mutual goals, and above all . . . listening. With purpose and authenticity
 
In this process of connecting, we come to understand shared risk and protective factors of violence in all its forms.  While the root cause of violence may be power of one over another, there are, as we have learned from our community members, many factors that shape what power looks like and how it is wielded.  These factors include one’s culture, level of education and worldly experience, social status, one’s values and how one is raised as a child, among many others.
 
Community connectedness is a shared protective factor that could have a broad impact on violence in the community. One form of violence, for example, bullying, can increase families’ and individuals’ risk for domestic violence. A community that has a zero-tolerance for violence, whose members watch out for each other, and who step in to protect potential victims can help the Alliance to develop services and strategies that would have the widest impact.
 
In our interviews with community members, we have learned that while violence has no boundaries, there are ‘hot spots’ in some villages.  These areas are described as “poor”, “young parents on drugs”, “druggies living in rented houses”, and sadly, the victims are primarily the children. While the village around them functions, these areas are known to the community and avoided.  These individuals and their community are dis-connected.
 
Preventing violence involves engagement through communication, not avoidance.  And a key principle of this approach is cultural competency. Knowing the situation, it is important to connect through communication within the context of the unique views, values, and ways of doing things in a community. Listening to the community is how we learn to communicate in a culturally competent way.  Simply translating education materials into a different language does not constitute a culturally appropriate or relevant strategy as it does not address the different ways communities talk and think about violence. Nor does it reach those who need the help the most.
 
Every intervention the Alliance implements involves connecting with the community by . . .

1. Using positive messaging that is nonbiased and based on evidence
2. Using the language of the target audience
3. Speaking to the audiences’ cultural values
4. Offering solutions, ‘how-to’ ideas
5. Telling a compelling story
6. Promoting positive social norms
7. Meeting people where they are at

Look for more prevention-based interventions and activities coming from the Alliance Team in the near future! Be part of the solution – contact the Alliance for opportunities to partner and get involved.

Written by:  Luana Yoshikawa-Scanlan, CDC RPE

Rape culture is the normalization and justification of sexual violence in a community.  Social norms - beliefs, values, and attitudes - minimize the impact of sexual violence. In many cases the responsibility is placed on the victim, and those vulnerable to sexual violence, to ‘avoid’ situations where they may be sexually violated.
In response to a person being raped or sexually assaulted you may hear things like “She asked for it” or “He’s a guy – she should have known better”.  This victim blaming approach is the fuel that drives social norms that perpetuate rape culture.  Placing blame and responsibility for someone else’s (the rapist) actions on the victim prevents society from holding the rapist accountable.  Stigma is then associated with the victim – weakness, sexual object, ‘loose’ and immoral instead of the act of rape itself.

You may hear or see messages in the media and from parents or teachers that advise girls not to walk alone at night, not to wear ‘revealing’ clothes, not to flirt or ‘party’ and ‘lead boys on’. 
Not, not, not…focusing on the possible victim’s behavior instead of the possible perpetrator.  Girls are told ‘don’t get raped’ whereas the message should be ‘don’t rape.’

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), approximately 96% of those who sexually abuse children are male. 90% of rape victims are female. In the U.S., 433,648 Americans aged 12 and older were sexually assaulted or raped between 2010-2014[1]. Yet rape is one of the least prosecuted crimes in the U.S.:

• while 92% of victims can identify their violators[2],
• less than half are reported (46 out of every 100),
• and less than 1% lead to an arrest and prosecution.
• 5 out of 100 rapists are convicted annually of a felony[3],
• but only 3 of those 5 will spend a single day in jail according to RAINN.  

 This trend further supports a culture of rape by removing the deterrent.
 
The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) provides support for the primary prevention of rape and sexual violence.  Following the social-ecological model, prevention activities address the complex interrelated root causes of rape culture and sexual violence at every level of society.
 
These activities include supporting working parents with safe and affordable childcare, establishing school and workplace policies that promote social norms to protect people against sexual violence, empowering vulnerable individuals with opportunities to learn protective skills. As we’ll see in next month’s article, rape culture negatively impacts us all – especially our youth.
[1] Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015)
[2] Kingi, V., Jordan, J. et al., (2009). Responding to sexual violence: pathways to recovery. Univ. of Wellington Crime & Justice Research Center. www.library.nvfvc.org.nz

[3]https://www.thehivelaw.com/blog/how-many-rapists-are-convicted/#:~:text=~3%2C258%20rapists%20are%20convicted%20per,per%20year%20in%20the%20US.

Written by Luana Yoshikawa-Scanlan, CDC RPE Project Manager, PRIME Consultant; 
Assessing Rape Prevention in our community begins with understanding what it is, and what it is not.
The typical public health approach is to define a ‘problem’, identify ‘risk and protective factors’, develop ‘prevention strategies’, and reach out to the public using these strategies to raise awareness and educate people on how to avoid the problem.
Primary prevention focuses on changing the underlying causes of the problem rather than the problem itself.
In other words, while critical, information like sexual violence prevalence, skills to reduce risk of being victimized, availability of victim services do not prevent the acts of sexual violence.
Primary prevention aims to ‘eliminate and reduce factors’ that enable sexual violence and keep it from happening in the first place.  An example of this is active bystander strategies. An active bystander is aware of a situation that may lead to sexual violence and takes action to ensure the violence doesn’t happen. 
Outreach, awareness, and education aim to reduce individual risk and increase community support for victims/survivors. These approaches address the possibility (risk factors) of, or aftereffects of violence (personal experiences, beliefs).
Primary prevention, on the other hand, addresses health and social inequities that fuel the social norms that contribute to violence. 
The line between primary prevention and the outreach-awareness-education work we do in the community is often blurred and ambiguous. However, this line is what differentiates RPE Primary Prevention: a world without sexual violence. Working from this perspective changes our approach to the outreach-awareness-education. From ‘addressing’ the problem to eradicating the roots of the problem. For example, educating people on how to be healthy, non-violent individuals; learning skills to improve individual wellbeing.
As the Alliance prepares to engage the community in discussions about rape prevention and sexual violence, we are developing discussion questions that aim at the roots of those problems. After all, you cannot solve a problem that you don’t understand, or worse – don’t acknowledge.  We encourage people to join upcoming community talanoa and online surveys to share knowledge, experiences, and ideas.  
Photo from CDC Violence Prevention site: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/publichealthapproach.html