Women’s empowerment through self-defence training

Image: Participant led self-defence training with women in Khazer camp.

Gender-based violence permeates across the world, and addressing sexual and gender-based violence often seems an insurmountable challenge. Iraq boasts a population of 43 million, half of which are aged under19 years, and 1.3 million are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence.

 providing these women with the physical tools that they may one-day need to protect themselves and others

Addressing gender-based violence, and uplifting and empowering women, particularly in heavily patriarchal societies requires a multi-pronged approach, through many actors, over many years. In November 2022, BHHF teamed up with professional trainers to contribute to women’s empowerment through self-defence training. Over 5 days, 110 women learned life saving self-defence skills, providing these women with the physical tools that they may one-day need to protect themselves and others. One training participant, Amani* spoke of how she now feels that she is equipped to deter an assault or physical violation that is being perpetrated against her, and, having these skills has provided her with greater self-confidence. And whilst BHHF trained 110 women and girls, the benefits were broader beyond this initial group. As the self-defence training adopted a train-the-trainer model, participants were able to provide self-defence training to other women and girls, and men and boys in their communities. Amani embraced her new skills and the opportunities they presented and conducted self-defence training for 15 IDPs women (aged 20-40 years) and 12 girls (aged 10-13 years) from Khazer Camp in Erbil.

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