The Guardian Girls Global Karate Project was launched this past week in Cairo. This far-reaching programme aims at giving women tools to face situations of Gender-Based Violence through the practise of Karate.

Created by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) and the World Karate Federation (WKF), the Guardian Girls Global Karate Project has the mission of promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls to defend themselves through Karate training.

The Guardian Girls Global Karate Project was presented in October 2022 in Los Angeles (United States). The city in California was selected to welcome the launching of the programme, as it hosts the headquarters of KIF Global. The official unveiling of the programme occurred at the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles. UNFPA Chief Strategic Partnership Mariarosa Cutillo, KIF Global co-founder Shin Koyamada, and WKF President Antonio Espinós signed the memorandum of understanding that effectively initiated the project. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles Kenko Sone and attended and supported the memorable event.

After this event, the pilot seminar of Guardian Girls Global Karate was held at the Terasaki Budokan of Los Angeles to help women in the Los Angeles area to face situations of Gender-Based Violence through Karate training.

Following the success of the activities in Los Angeles, Cairo hosted the first event of the year, with the activities being developed in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Egypt and the Egyptian Karate Federation, on the occasion of the Karate 1-Premier League event.

(From left to right: KIF President Nia Lyte, UNFPA Egypt Country office Frederika Meijer, Minister of Youth and Sport of Egypt Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, WKF President Antonio Espinós, President of Egyptian Karate Federation Mr. Mohamed Al Dahrawy, and the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt Oka Hiroshi)

PRESENTATION AT RESIDENCE OF AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN TO EGYPT

The project was officially unveiled at a presentation event in the residence of the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, Oka Hiroshi on Saturday evening.

Hosted by Ambassador Oka and headed by the Minister of Youth and Sport of Egypt Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, the event was also attended by the head of UNFPA Egypt Country office Frederika Meijer, KIF Global President Nia Lyte, WKF President Antonio Espinós and the President of Egyptian Karate Federation Mohamed Al Dahrawy, among other officials.

The reception included a presentation by Nia Lyte, President of KIF, which contained video messages by UNFPA Chief of Strategic Partnership Mariarosa Cutillo and KIF co-founder Shin Koyamada.

Read more about the presentation of the project at the residence of the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt.

(WKF President Antonio Espinós addresses the audience during the presentation)

WOMEN’S SELF-DEFENCE SEMINAR

The events in Cairo started Saturday morning with the celebration of a women’s self-defence Seminar.

With Commonwealth champion Amy Connell of Scotland and Olympic Games medallist Giana Farouk of Egypt as instructors, the seminar gathered a group of young women from Egypt who, over two hours, had the opportunity to learn simple yet effective Karate movements to face the most common situations of Gender-Based Violence.

WKF Instructor Amy Connell said:

“The first seminar of the Guardian Girls Global Karate Project was incredible. It was nice to see the women engaged and empowered and really enjoying themselves while learning valuable tools for their self-defence. 

I have done Karate since I was three years old and naturally, Karate gives you discipline, self-confidence and self-awareness that sometimes you can’t get from other sports. I personally think that I would not have all of that if not for Karate.”

Instructor Giana Farouk said:

“I am very happy to join this project, as we are trying to show women how to defend themselves and how to get the self-confidence to deal with harassment and situations like this. I am pleased that this project started in Egypt, and I am proud to be a part of it.

“The most important thing that I learned from being a karateka is to expect your opponent, to control yourself, and to have the self-confidence to deal with difficult situations. Also, we are a big family in Karate, and we get to make a lot of friends.”

(WKF Instructors Amy Connell and Giana Farouk interact with the participants of the seminar)

DEMONSTRATION DURING FINALS OF KARATE 1-PREMIER LEAGUE

The events of the first Guardian Girls Global Karate activities of the year concluded Sunday with a demonstration of Karate self-defence for women, which was hosted during the finals of the Karate 1-Premier League.

Performed by Amy Connell and Giana Farouk with the assistance of Mustafa El-Gobashi, the demonstration was distributed to a worldwide viewing audience through the broadcast of the Karate 1-Premier League Cairo to TV networks all over the world.

Through a series of Karate movements applied to ordinary situations of violence, the Guardian Girls Karate instructors showed Karate resources to be used by any woman when confronted with violent behaviour.

(WKF Instructor Amy Connell performs Karate moves during the demonstration)

WKF President Antonio Espinós said:

“The activities of the Guardian Girls Global Karate Project in Cairo have been a sound success. Not only we have confirmed the strength of the project, as well as the firm bond that the three global creators of the programme - UNFPA, KIF and the WKF - share to fight the evil of Gender-Based Violence; we have also given women in Egypt a glimpse of how much Karate can help them in their lives while demonstrating the efficiency of Karate to face violent situations.

With the invaluable cooperation of our partners UNFPA and KIF and the remarkable support of the Embassy of Japan in Egypt and the Egyptian Karate Federation, we have initiated a wonderful journey to decisively establish Karate’s crucial contribution to society”.

Following the launching in Cairo, the project will be introduced at the major Karate events to take place in 2023, namely, Guadalajara (Spain) from March 24 to 25 during the EKF Senior Championships, the three Karate 1-Premier League events of the year in Rabat (Morocco) from May 12 to 14, Fukuoka (Japan) from June 9 to 11, Dublin (Ireland) from September 8 to 10, and Budapest (Hungary) from 27 to 28 October during the Senior World Championships.