Founder of Girl Pride Circle & vocal girls’ rights advocate – Olaoluwa Abagun was deeply disturbed by the sad reality that her community in Lagos (Alimosho) records about the highest prevalence of sexual violence against adolescent girls. She knew it was time to ACT.
The perfect opportunity came in June 2016, when Olaoluwa was awarded a seed grant by New York based advocacy organization “Women Deliver” to improve the health, rights, and well-being of adolescent girls in her community. This was how the project “Safe Kicks Initiative: Adolescent Girls against Sexual Violence” was birthed.
In just 6 months, Olaoluwa and her team at Girl Pride Circle successfully designed a curriculum and training manual on sexual violence education for adolescent girls, established after-school education clubs across 6 secondary schools in Alimosho, and engaged 270 adolescent girls through the education clubs. The weekly club meet-ups featured group conversations, simulations, drama skits on sexual violence, as well as basic Taekwondo classes to help the girls develop their self-confidence and self-defense skills.
Via radio programmes Olaoluwa and her team also engaged the Local Government authorities, community leaders, and the generality of members in the community in progressive conversations on eradicating sexual violence and protecting adolescent girls.
More importantly, the adolescent girls were empowered to lead the drafting of the first ever “Community Action Plan for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Alimosho”. This Action Plan has been adopted by key community stakeholders (particularly the Local Government authorities) as an effective guide in waging a ruthless war against sexual violence.
Olaoluwa Abagun has been granted the distinction of Associate Fellow of The Royal Commonwealth Society, for her commitment to promoting the values of the Commonwealth and working to improve the lives and prospects of Commonwealth citizens.
