Nigerian Adolescent Girls Kick Out Sexual Violence...Literally

In June 2015 (against the backdrop of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada) I participated in the #GirlPowerInPlay campaign to advocate for increased research and funding for girls' sports. While writing an article to support the campaign, I stumbled upon mindblowing information on the huge dividends that participation in sports can have on girls' development - especially in the areas of leadership development, physical/mental well being and the practical manifestation of gender equality. As a girls' rights advocate, the campaign provided me with a fresh perspective and I made a personal commitment to incorporate a sporting component in one of my organization's programmatic interventions.

A grand opportunity to activate my commitment only presented itself in April 2016, when I learnt about the shocking data on Sexual Violence against adolescent girls in my community. The 2015 "Violence Against Children Survey" carried out by the National Population Commission revealed that 1 out of 4 girls in Nigeria is a victim of Sexual Violence. Mirabel Center, a foremost Sexual Assault Referral Center in Lagos Nigeria also reported that 592 of its 845 female patients between 2013 - 2015 were adolescent girls. Shockingly, my community - Alimosho Local Government Area is home to majority of the 592 adolescent girls who had been sexually violated.

Undoubtedly, adolescent girls are under attack. Upon further research, I found that 73.1% of survivors of rape and defilement knew their assailants. The popular methods used to overcome the vulnerable adolescent victims were Threat (35.5%), Physical Violence (28.7%) & Deceit (24.1%). Understanding the problem helped me design a grassroots initiative for the mobilization, empowerment and protection of adolescent girls in my community - Safe Kicks Initiative: Adolescent Girls Against Sexual Violence.

Safe Kicks Initiative is geared towards charting a sustainable prevention against sexual violence in the Alimosho community of Lagos State. The pilot phase of the project is employing after-school education clubs to educate 250 adolescent school girls across the community, providing them with accurate knowledge on sexual violence and anti-sexual violence advocacy. Regarding the sporting component of the project, the girls are engaging in a basic martial arts training (Taekwondo) in order to learn self defence skills, improve their physical/mental alertness and garner the requisite confidence to deal final kicks on sexual violence - by themselves and for themselves. Following this intense empowerment phase, the girls would lead the drafting of a community Action Plan with input from members of the community. The Action Plan would be supported by the local government authorities, traditional/religious leaders, family heads, school authorities and other key stakeholders of the community.

Overall, the project is empowering adolescent girls through education and sports, while bringing their voices to the centre of the solution - not as victims, but as key agents of lasting change. The initiative is funded by a seed grant awarded by Women Deliver - a global advocacy organization that advocates for the heath, rights and well being of women and girls.

Members of the community keep asking one interesting question: What do Taekwondo and Sexual Violence have in common? For my team, the answer is simply "Kicks"! We are excited to replace kicks of fear, doubt, exploitation, and pain with audacious, empowering, courageous and safe kicks. Bridging the gap between girls and sports is heralding sustainable change in the Alimosho community.