To empower girls and women to better facing Gender-Based Violence situations through Karate training, reinforcing Karate’s contribution to society and positive impact beyond the tatami.
To continue with the expansion of this initiative worldwide through WKF's 201 affiliated National Federations.
The programme combines Karate techniques with confidence-building, grounded in the core values of Karate, such as respect and perseverance.
The training sessions aim to emphasize the importance of confidence, situational awareness, and to provide basic Karate techniques that can be employed in real-life scenarios.
Rabat (Morocco, 2023)
Dublin (Ireland, 2023)
Cairo (Egypt, 2023)
Riga (Latvia, 2025)
Harare (Zimbabwe, 2025)
Chengdu (China, 2025)
Nuremberg (Germany, 2025)
Adelaide (Australia, 2025)
Oaxaca (Mexico, 2025)
Tokyo (Japan, 2026)
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Rome (Italy, 2026)
Osterburg (Germany, 2026)
In 2019, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) for advancing women's rights and combating violence against women and girls through a new global initiative: Guardian Girls. In 2022, the World Karate Federation (WKF) formalized an agreement with KIF and UNFPA to empower girls and women towards the prevention of Gender-Based Violence grounded in Karate's core values and training, creating "Guardian Girls Karate" and reinforcing Karate’s contribution to society.
In 2023, the first international Instructors' Course took place in Madrid, Spain (WKF's HQ) certifying instructors from Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Spain and the United States of America.
In 2024, activities led by GGK WKF-certified instructors representing a variety of National Federations were carried out in the Americas, Ireland and Italy.
In 2025, responding to an expansion phase, Instructors' Courses were held in three continents: in Oceania, for over 17 instructors from Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia and New Zealand; in Europe, with 15 participants belonging to Armenia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Scotland and Sweden; and in Africa, with 11 trainers representing Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Guardian Girls Karate was also present at The World Games in Chengdu, China.
Continuing with the continental strategy, a new Guardian Girls Karate Instructors' Course had been launched in Tokyo, Japan. In this edition, 16 instructors representing Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam gained their WKF GGK certification. With this, 38 National Federations have joined WKF's initiative for preventing Gender-Based Violence.
I was very skeptical going into the “holds and grappling” unit, as the solutions offered are often too complex or physically difficult to implement for women in real danger situations. This is where the “Guardian Girls” idea has a positive effect, as it has been adapted to the realistic possibilities of women.
Ulrike Maass
WKF-Certified Instructor
Germany
Karate naturally gives you discipline, self-confidence, self-awareness that you sometimes can't get from other sports, so I'm really passionate on sharing Karate with every type of woman, because it really gives them something different: a bit of that self-confidence. We're a living proof that women can do Karate, and that it's for everybody. That's the aim of Karate: it's for anybody who wants to feel confident and empowered through self-defence.
Amy Connell
WKF Head Instructor
Scotland
Let's learn, train, and continue to network women. Let's build a strong network. The goal of learning these techniques is to ensure they're never used, because the most important thing is our physical safety. If you can run, do it. The best self-defense is to save your life.
Cheryl Murphy
WKF-Certified Instructor
USA
Speaking to some of the women, seeing them develop their confidence and the belief in themselves through Karate, so if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation, not only now they have the physical skills, but they have the confidence in themselves and the readiness to be able to remove themselves from that situation.
Carol Grogan
WKF Instructor
Northern Ireland
WORLD KARATE FEDERATION (WKF)
The WKF is the international governing body of Karate. With 201 National Federations, the WKF manages the sport of Karate for its over 100 million fans around the world.
As the Karate world is going through times of unprecedented progress and expansion, it is its intention to further extend the dynamism and innovation and social contribution of Karate.
KOYAMADA INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION (KIF)
KIF is an international non-governmental organization, with a mission of improving the quality of people’s life by empowering global youth and women to reach their full potential, and by providing humanitarian aid to promote global peace and sustainable development.
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)
UNFPA is the UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. UNFPA leads programmes to prevent, respond to and mitigate gender-based violence in over 153 countries and territories. It promotes gender equality and empowers women, girls and young people to take control of their bodies and their futures.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassy of Japan in Spain
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassy of Japan in Morocco
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassy of Japan in Ireland
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassy of Japan in Hungary
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: Embassy of Japan in Egypt
The Embassy of the United States of America in Japan
The Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, USA
The American Consulate in Fukuoka, Japan
The Ministry of Youth and Sport of Egypt
The Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication of Morocco
The Ministry of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family of Morocco
The Ministry of Education and Sports of Spain
Sport Ireland; Galway Sports Partnership
5/4/2026
Guardian Girls Karate continues to grow across Asia with two new seminars held in Indonesia and Kazakhstan. The two activities follow the instructors’ seminar in Tokyo, Japan, in March, and mark another step forward in the programme’s mission to highlight the social legacy of Karate and its impact in the fight against gender-based violence.
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3/12/2026
The Guardian Girls Karate programme reached a major milestone this past weekend in Tokyo, marking the successful expansion of the World Karate Federation’s initiative against gender-based violence across Asia. The activities also coincided with the celebration of International Women’s Day, reinforcing the programme’s commitment to empowering women and girls through karate.
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3/8/2026
The Guardian Girls Karate programme marked an important milestone on its second day of activities in Tokyo, as the World Karate Federation (WKF) initiative against gender-based violence continued its expansion across Asia. Held just ahead of International Women’s Day, the event combined the second session of the instructors’ course with an open seminar for women. The activities confirmed Tokyo as a key step in bringing the programme to more countries in the continent.
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3/7/2026
The first day of the Guardian Girls Karate instructor training course began Saturday in Tokyo with a successful opening session that brought together women from 13 countries. Participants started learning the basics of the programme with the goal of expanding it in their home nations.
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3/5/2026
Tokyo will host a series of activities for the Guardian Girls Karate programme this weekend, marking an important step in the global expansion of the initiative led by the World Karate Federation. The events, held around International Women’s Day, aim to strengthen the programme’s presence in Asia and empower women through karate-based self-defence training.
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2/18/2026
The Guardian Girls Karate initiative has been awarded Best Social Event of the Year 2025 during the Latvian Combat Sports Awards Ceremony. The event was organised by the Latvian Sports Federations Council, representing 94 Latvian federations, and took place in front of more than 300 athletes with a live national television broadcast.
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2/7/2026
The Guardian Girls Karate programme continues to prove that Karate can be a powerful vehicle for social change, with the initiative recently reaching two new universities. Over the past months, the programme has been successfully implemented at Ulster University in Belfast and Coleraine, Northern Ireland, and at the Universidad Estatal del Valle de Ecatepec in Mexico, reinforcing its growing international footprint and long-term social impact.
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2/4/2026
Guardian Girls Karate continues its global expansion with new activities in Mexico, strengthening the programme’s international reach and local impact.
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12/11/2025
The Guardian Girls Karate programme has completed an exceptional year of growth, establishing a strong international footprint and expanding its reach across three of the world’s five continents. Following a sequence of major development events held in Oceania, Europe, and the last in Africa, the programme now operates in over 30 countries, with activities in Asia and the Americas scheduled to begin in the coming months.
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11/25/2025
The Guardian Girls Karate Programme was officially presented in Zimbabwe at a ceremony hosted at the residence of the Ambassador of Japan. The event marked the official launch of the programme’s mission to use karate to address gender-based violence.
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11/22/2025
The Guardian Girls Karate Programme reached a major milestone this week as leaders from the World Karate Federation (WKF), the African Karate Federation (UFAK), and the Zimbabwe Karate Federation (ZKF) gathered in Harare for the official press conference of the launch of the Guardian Girls Karate activities in the country. The event marked the official introduction of Karate’s global anti-gender-based-violence initiative in Africa.
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11/20/2025
The Guardian Girls Karate activities began in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Wednesday, a landmark moment for Karate’s global programme against gender-based violence. The first sessions of the Instructors’ course inaugurated the three-day series of activities of the programme.
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11/20/2025
The World Karate Federation (WKF) and Daedo have reached a new collaboration agreement to support the Guardian Girls Karate programme. Through this partnership, Daedo becomes the first WKF-approved brand to join Karate’s global initiative against gender-based violence. As part of the agreement, Daedo will provide Karate equipment for the programme’s training sessions and educational activities.
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11/18/2025
Guardian Girls Karate, the global initiative launched by the World Karate Federation (WKF), the Koyamada International Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to empower women through Karate, arrives in Africa this week. Harare will host the first Guardian Girls Karate activities on the continent in a three-day event that marks an important step in the programme’s worldwide expansion
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11/13/2025
The Guardian Girls Karate programme was implemented this past weekend in Latvia with a series of activities that highlighted the efficiency of Karate’s initiative against gender-based violence and stated the intention to make the project a success in the country.
READ NEWSThe GGK programme is only intended for women. In order to join GGK, you will need to get in touch with your Karate National Federation.
WKF's Guardian Girls Karate official courses and seminars are offered at no cost. Each National Federation might charge participants with a price to cover related expenses (Instructors’ fee, materials, venue).
Worlwide activities calendar is not available. Please, get in touch with your correspondent National Federation. You can CC ggk@wkf.net
To become a member of the programme, each Karate National Federation must have a GGK WKF-certified instructor. Please advise your NF to contact WKF via their official registered emails in WKF's database.
Yes, you can! Open seminars, taster sessions and training courses are available for women and girls with no martial arts experience. GGK Instructors’ Course, on the other hand, are only meant for qualified Karatekas endorsed by the President of their National Federations to become GGK WKF-certified instructors.
Only female self-defence instructors over 18 years old with Karate experience and a valid national license will be considered as candidates for GGK Instructors’ Course.
You’re most welcome to join a Karate club! Contact your National Federation and/ or local clubs for more information and remember: #karateforlife
If you or a girl or a woman in your community are struggling or need more information on preventing Gender-Based Violence, please contact your national helplines and/or local support services to request for assistance. Trained psychologists, lawyers and social workers are there to help you. You are not alone.