Guardian Girls Global Karate Project’s Successful Event in Cairo Shows Karate’s Remarkable Contribution to Society

The Guardian Girls Global Karate Project was launched last week in Cairo. This large-scale program aims to give women the tools to deal with situations of Gender-Based Violence through the practice of Karate.

Created by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) and the World Karate Federation (WKF), the Guardian Girls Global Karate Project is on a mission to promote gender equality and empower women and girls through karate training.

The Guardian Girls Global Karate Project was presented in October 2022 in Los Angeles (USA). The city of California was chosen to host the launch of the program, since it is home to the headquarters of KIF Global. The official unveiling of the program took place at the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles. UNFPA’s Head of Strategic Partnership, Mariarosa Cutillo, KIF Global Co-Founder, Shin Koyamada, and WKF President, Antonio Espinós, signed the Memorandum of Understanding which effectively launched the project. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and Japanese Consul General in Los Angeles Kenko Sone attended and supported this momentous event.

Following this event, the pilot Guardian Girls Global Karate Seminar was held at the Terasaki Budokan in Los Angeles to help women in the Los Angeles area deal with 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 Japanese Embassy in Egypt and the Egyptian Karate Federation, on the occasion of the event Karate 1-Premier League.

PRESENTATION AT THE RESIDENCE OF THE AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN IN EGYPT

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

Hosted by Ambassador Oka and led by Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, the event was also attended by the Head of UNFPA’s Country Office in Egypt, Frederika Meijer, President World KIF Nia Lyte, WKF President Antonio Espinós and Egyptian Karate Federation President Mohamed Al Dahrawy, among other officials.

The reception included a presentation by Nia Lyte, KIF President, which featured video messages from UNFPA’s Head of Strategic Partnership, Mariarosa Cutillo, and KIF Co-Founder, Shin Koyamada.

FEMALE SELF-DEFENSE SEMINAR

The events in Cairo began on Saturday morning with the celebration of a seminar on women’s self-defense.

With the Commonwealth Champion Amy Connell of Scotland and Olympic Games medalist Giana Farouk from Egypt as instructors, the seminar brought together a group of young women from Egypt who, for two hours, had the opportunity to learn simple but effective karate movements to deal with the most common situations gender-based violence.

WKF Instructor Amy Connell said:

“The first Guardian Girls Global Karate Project seminar was amazing. It was nice to see the women engaged and empowered and really having fun while learning valuable tools for self-defense.

I’ve been doing karate since I was three years old and naturally karate gives discipline, self-confidence and self-awareness that sometimes you can’t get with other sports. Personally, I think I wouldn’t have all of this without karate.

Instructor Giana Farouk said:

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

“The most important thing I learned as a karateka is to wait for your opponent, to control yourself and to have the confidence to face difficult situations. Moreover, we are a big family in the karate and we made a lot of friends.

DEMONSTRATION AT KARATE 1-PREMIER LEAGUE FINALS

The events of the first Guardian Girls Global Karate activities of the year concluded on Sunday with a Karate self-defense display for women, which was animated during the Karate 1-Premier League final.

Performed by Amy Connell and Giana Farouk with assistance from Mustafa El-Gobashi, the demonstration was distributed to a global audience through the broadcast of Karate 1-Cairo Premier League on television networks around the world.

Through a series of karate moves applied to ordinary situations of violence, Guardian Girls Karate instructors demonstrated karate resources for use by any woman facing violent behavior.

WKF President Antonio Espinós said:

“The activities of the Guardian Girls Global Karate Project in Cairo have been a great success. Not only did we confirm the strength of the project, as well as the strong bond that the three global creators of the program – UNFPA, KIF and WKF – share to fight the scourge of gender-based violence; we also gave women in Egypt a glimpse of how much karate can help them in their lives while demonstrating the effectiveness of karate in dealing with 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 embarked on a wonderful journey to decisively establish the crucial contribution of karate to society” .

Following the launch in Cairo, the project will be presented during the major Karate events that will take place in 2023, namely, Guadalajara (Spain) from March 24 to 25 during the EKF Senior Championships, the three events of the Karate 1-Premier League 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 October 27 to 28 during the Senior World Championships.

Learn more about the Guardian Girls initiative HERE

About the Koyamada International Foundation

The Koyamada International Foundation is an international non-profit organization founded in 2008 by international celebrity Shin Koyamada and his wife, Nia Lyte. With headquarters in Los Angeles and national chapters around the world, KIF manages global initiatives and operations through strategic partnerships with the United Nations and other international organizations. Official website – kifglobal.org

About the United Nations Population Fund

UNFPA is the United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health. UNFPA’s mission is to create a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, quality maternal health care and comprehensive sex education. Official website – unfpa.org

About the World Karate Federation

The WKF is the international governing body for karate. With 200 national federations and its headquarters in Madrid (Spain), the WKF manages the sport of karate for its more than 100 million fans around the world and organizes karate events around the world. To learn more about the WKF and its activities, please visit www.wkf.net.