The first edition of the Guardian Girls Karate Instructors Course was successfully held this past week in Madrid (Spain). Organised by the World Karate Federation in coordination with the programme partners, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF), the course aimed at initiating the creation of a network of WKF Guardian Girls Karate Instructors to empower women around the world to effectively face situations of Gender-Based Violence through Karate training.

WKF Instructors Teresa Garcia of Spain and Amy Connell of Scotland headed the activity which had representatives from eight countries participating. Appointed by their National Federations, the participants took part in the course to learn the basic concepts of the project to implement the programme in their countries. 

The activity was attended by Ireland’s Eimear Porter and Carol Duffy, Xhunashi Guadalupe Caballero of Mexico, Danielle Chang of Jamaica, Cinzia Colaiacomo of Italy, Maaß Ulrike of Germany, Hana Furumoto-Deshaies of Canada, Nuria Aguado of Spain, and Cheryl Murphy of the United States.

Hailed a success by the participants, the inaugural Instructors Course was organised with the support of the Royal Spanish Karate Federation and the Karate Federation of the Madrid region thus initiating a new stage for the project.

Through the participating National Federations, the newly certified instructors will now be able to spread out the project in their respective countries through the training of new national instructors and the implementation of mid to long-term women's self-defence seminars in their countries.       

The WKF Guardian Girls Karate Project is a worldwide social initiative that aims to promote gender equality and women's empowerment to defend themselves from all forms of Gender-Based Violence through Karate training.

The project was initiated in October 2022 in Los Angeles (United States) where the Memorandum of Understanding of the programme was signed at the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles by the three creators, UNFPA, KIF, and the WKF. This year, the project has been introduced in all the Karate 1-Premier League events in Cairo, Rabat, Fukuoka, and Dublin, the Senior European Championships in Guadalajara, and the World Senior Championships in Budapest.