Leading insurance, AXA Mansard, and the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) have announced a partnership to raise awareness and increase education about the menace of domestic and sexual violence, especially against the girl-child in the country.
In the partnership, the Lagos DSVA will provide technical and expert support in leading employee training, public awareness and guide the various school activations which will be carried out by employee volunteers of AXA Mansard.
Speaking after the partnership meeting at the office of the DSVA, Head of Marketing AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Olusesan Ogunyooye, said that the company is impressed about the works and proactiveness of the DSVA and sees this edition of the company’s annual volunteering and CSR initiative as a way to support and contribute to what the DSVA is doing.
“For us at AXA Mansard, our posture is that the future shouldn’t be at risk. And if we have to protect the future, then we must protect the children. So, building on our works against sexual and gender-based violence, we thought it fit to work with the DSVA during this edition of our annual global CSR week, AXA Week for Good.”
“We note the remarkable works that DSVA is doing in combating domestic and sexual violence in Lagos and sees this partnership as an opportunity to let them know there work is appreciated, but more importantly is working with them around this shared interest to rid our society of violence,” Ogunyooye said.
Commenting on the partnership, the Executive Secretary, DSVA, Mrs Vivour-Adeniyi, described the collaboration as a step towards the right direction in tackling domestic and sexual violence against girls in Lagos State.
She noted that partnerships with the private sector, such as this, are critical in amplifying the zero-tolerance stance of the Lagos State government against all forms of sexual and gender-based violence.
She added that DSVA remains committed to providing expert guidance and resources to ensure that the initiatives under the AXA Week for Good creates a meaningful impact and contributes to the broader goal of fostering a safer and more inclusive society for all.
With the theme, “Being a Girl Shouldn’t be A Risk,” this year’s edition of AXA Week for Good is focused on beaming the light on the impact of sexual and domestic violence on the girl child.
According to the 2014 National Survey on Violence Against Children in Nigeria, 25% of girls in Nigeria experience sexual violence before they turn 18 and 15% of the girls who experienced physically-forced or coerced sex before age 18 became pregnant.
These, according to Ogunyooye, are worrying statistics.
According to him, “what is even worrying is that these acts of violence happen to children in environment where they should feel safe such as schools and homes; and the ripple effect of these is an increasing normalisation of violence against children in the name of cultural norms.”
AXA Week for Good is the flagship programme of the the company’s employee volunteering programme, AXA Hearts in Action, under which AXA Mansard employees volunteered more than 20,000 hours in 2024.
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