Who We Are

MediaCon

WHO WE ARE

Media Concern Initiative - for Women and Children (MediaCon) is a Non-Governmental Organization committed to responding to issues of sexual violence against women and children through our prevention and crisis response interventions.

OUR BACKGROUND

Media Concern for Women and Children was founded by Dr. Princess Olufemi-Kayode and otherwise referred to as MediaCon came into existence in 2000 as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

The incubation of the vision began during her work as a journalist and columnist with The Punch Newspaper with the responsibility to handle a women's section. With two full pages to herself every week, Princess took advantage of the platform to deviate from the norm of most women's columns that focus on fitness, cookery, beauty, fashion trends etc. to focus on diverse social issues especially sexual violence; the topic forbidden and dreaded by most journalists and columnists. This attracted a lot of feedbacks across the nation.

By 2001, Dr. Princess Olufemi-Kayode moved from mainstream print media to media advocacy and human rights activism in the social sector as she joined the NGO community as a staff of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria and for two years maintained the status quo of coordinating Media Concern For Women & Children.

TAKE OFF
TIME for take-off and with support of her former employer, she left in March 2003 to take up MEDIA CONCERN FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN as a full time job. During the preparation (a time of research, etc.) period, the case of a 5 year old girl who had experienced sexual abuse was reported to MEDIACON. The girl could barely walk had an infection when she was brought to the office. She had been threatened that she will die if she disclosed the abuse which had gone on for a period of time. This jumpstarted the work as the first media forum organized by MEDIACON held in that year, 2003 and with a huge media presence.
Her passion led to a national campaign about sexual abuse on National Television resulting in a wave of disclosure and discoveries. This highlighted the dire gap in service provision by government leaving MediaCon with the role of crisis intervention in addition to prevention which it took up with aplomb.
This jumpstarted the work as the first media forum organized by MEDIACON held in that year, 2003 and with a huge media presence.
Employing the principle of Asset Based Community-Driven Development (using what you have to get you need), MediaCon was able to provide the needed services to victims of sexual violence through identification and harnessing available community resources including people, medical , social welfare, legal and organized bodies.

Subsequently, the need arose to effectively address the increasing demands for the services MediaCon was providing as well as crafting appropriate strategies to move the new organization forward, thus new partnerships were formed with both governmental and non-governmental bodies, capacities built, skilled personnel employed and structures established.
Office commenced operation in April, 2003 fully and later registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in September 2007 (CAC/ IT/ NO 25223) with the name MEDIA CONCERN INITIATIVE.
To achieve our organizational objectives, various strategies are engaged including Helplines, sensitization and awareness campaigns, education, victim advocate programme, partnerships, trainings, direct services and referrals. MediaCon is also staffed with experts in the fields of criminal psychology, social work, media, forensic interviewing, capacity building and digital media to meet the needs of our community.
In the course of 14 years of working in the field of sexual violence, MediaCon has reached over 1,000,000 people from Nigeria and other parts of the globe bringing comfort, hope and healing to victims, their families and other loved ones.

PIONEERING WORK IN NIGERIA
MediaCon pioneered sexual violence response in the country, kick starting with a major media campaign, "NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE." The campaign received great support from broadcast and print media. Most times, people mention that it was due to the Founder's media background. That was not the case. It was news!!! It attracted media attention. Purely NEWS!!!
The campaign put our face and voice out there and in three years, the year 2005, a Rape Crisis Model, we called Crisis Response Centre was created. This department became the hallmark of the organisation in less than two years.

We have worked with children directly under prevention department. We initiated a Children Advisory Board and they have been active since 2007. They have been contributing to our work and we listen.

The advancement in response to child sexual abuse and adult sexual violence in Nigeria cannot be mentioned without MediaCon.

Our Belief

We believe that providing the required response to issues of sexual violence against women and children is a collective responsibility of shared partnerships.

Our Values

At MediaCon, we are guided by the ideals to preserve the beauty of childhood and the dignity of womanhood towards attaining a sexually sound being, devoid of hurts as a result of sexual induced violence. This forms the core of our values:

-Innovation
-Respect
-Dignity
-Trust & Confidentiality
-Responsible
-Integrity & Accountability

which guides us in our actions, interventions and decision making.