Page 53 - ACCESS BANK ANNUAL REPORTS_eBook

Referred to by experts as the banking product that delivers Access Bank, partners and sponsors, celebrities, family and
babies, our first of its kind Maternal Health Service Support friends, Mrs Mosun Belo-Olusoga, the Bank’s Chairman was
(MHSS) has helped scores of women complete their fami- also in attendance to support the cause.
lies and access quality healthcare by financing medical and
fertility treatments for women amongst others. Through
successful IVF procedures and Natal Support, 40+ babies World Sight Day
have been birthed to families nationwide. Women have also
been able to access bone surgeries for their infants as well In commemoration of the World Sight Day on October
as fibroid treatments. 12, 2017, ACT Foundation in partnership with the Access
Women Network provided free eye screening and recom-
mended corrective lenses (free eye glasses) for partici-
access Women Network (‘aWN’) pants. This exercise helped to bridge the gap in eye health
thus improving the quality of life for Access Bank’s staff
The Access Women Network supports gender diversity/in- by identifying individuals with eye defects, treating those
clusion in the Bank. It is the support network for female staff with primary refractive errors such as near-sightedness,
ensuring gender equality policies are entrenched within the farsightedness, and astigmatism and referring those who
organisation. This helps to continually attract and retain require eye surgeries to a nearby eye specialist hospital or
female employees across all cadres. The network champi- St. Mary’s Catholic Eye Hospital for further examination
ons its cause through gender policies, mentoring, capacity and treatment. 298 participants were screened during the
building and networking programs. All female employees event.
are eligible. Some of the key initiatives of AWN in the past
year include:
Orange Lecture

Love a Child Initiative Access Women Network in collaboration with Genesis
House was engaged in a campaign titled Activism Against
On the 12th of February 2017, the Access Women Network Gender-Based Violence. The campaign started on the No-
(AWN) carried out the second edition of Love a Child Initia- vember 24, 2017 with an annual lecture themed Orange
tive. Lecture 2017 - Violence against Women; Why It Matters,
Why Should You Care’ to mark the International Day for the
The initiative was established by AWN to impact the lives of Elimination of Violence against Women.
orphans in our community on Valentine’s Day. All employ-
ees were engaged to donate gifts and cash for the orphans The lecture was held at the Bank’s Head Office. The keynote
within their community. Branches selected orphanage speaker was Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin, a Women’s Rights
homes within their community to visit and donate gifts and Activist. She educated the audience on the importance of
cash. Female employees were nominated in all the branch- speaking up against domestic violence and raising continu-
es to champion the initiative in their respective branches. ous awareness on issues relating to domestic violence.

International Women’s Day EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES
AWN celebrated the International Women’s Day on March Employee volunteering is an innovative way for businesses
8, 2017. To mark the day in a special way, processes were to invest in their people and local communities. Employees
put in place to “empower a woman” and “appreciate a wom- are guided and advised on how to impact communities in
an”. these focus areas, donating their time, skills and resourc-
es during work hours to tackle local social issues. The past
The activities of the day were centred on pairing up all mem- year showed the passion and commitment of our employ-
bers of staff to send out appreciation notes to each other. ees to community investment and this was reflected in the
calibre of projects various groups embarked on. Employees
have volunteered a total of 1,761,156 hours, in 142 strate-
EMAC Smearathon gic community initiatives across the 6 geo-political zones
since 2015. We have achieved 100% employee participa-
The event tagged “Smearathon” was held on Saturday, tion in the Access Bank’s Employee Volunteering initiative
September 16, 2017 at the Muri Okunola Park in Victoria empowering employees to contribute to the sustainable
Island, Lagos. The event provided an avenue for the un- development of communities. Our employees, through
derprivileged women to recieve free screening for cervical the Employee Volunteering Scheme, contribute ideas, skills
cancer. Ninety-One women from Ajah and Obalende were and resources to address social issues whilst gaining hands
screened. We had in attendance, male and female staff of – on experience and fulfillment as positive role models in

Access BAnk Plc 53
Annual Report & Accounts 2017