EmpowerVan

“As long as the community needs my help, I am ready to offer my skills with the knowledge I have gained. I want to continue sharpening them as I sharpen myself too. That is how we can change the world.”

Chana, one of our Self Defense Instructors in Kakuma, Kenya, is very passionate to share her knowlege with the women and girls living in Kakuma Camp. The incident mentioned in our blogpost inspired her to become a instructor herself and make a change.

Read the full story on our website, on the blog page.

Chana is one of our Empowerment Self-Defense facilitators in Kakuma, Kenya. The training session gave her the skills to observe her surroundings, resulting in reacting fast when she noticed she wasn’t safe. “This was a game changer as I could no longer accept things that made me shrink to accommodate others”.

Read the full story written by Joyce Kimani on our website’s blog page.

Katharina is a certified self-defense instructor, sports therapist, boxing therapist and systemic therapist in training. She combines her experience in martial arts, education and therapeutic work to support people in developing confidence, awareness and practical skills for dealing with violence and setting boundaries. We're happy to have such a powerhouse on board to support our mission to fight gender based violence! Thank you for your work on the ground in Greece, dear Katharina.gr

“It challenged traditional expectations about masculinity and femininity and encouraged us to think critically about how gender norms shape our attitudes, behaviors, and communities.

One particularly interesting moment was during the role-play, where “acting like a woman” portrayed the different forms of torture, discrimination, disadvantages, and ways in which women are often undermined and treated unfairly in society.

One of the participants aged 27, asked:
“Why are boys taught from childhood that they must be strong and never show emotions, while girls are expected to be gentle and caring?”

It was powerful because it helped participants see how gender norms can affect women’s daily lives and limit their opportunities and dignity. The activity sparked a meaningful discussion about challenging harmful stereotypes and promoting equality, respect, and dignity for everyone", said Bolis who is one of our facilitators in Kakuma as part of the a Male Agents of Change program, on one of his sessions on gender norms.

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“We discussed the importance of creating a safe space, and a respectful and supportive environment where everyone feels included.” - one of our Empowerment Self-Defense Instructors from Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Creating safe spaces is one of the baselines of Empowerment Self-Defense. A space is not solely safe because it is closed, shaded or in a compound. One of the most important factors of creating a safe space is creating a space with emotional safety.

How do we do this? We "set the container". We do agreements with our students, where we talk about confidentiality, undo victim-blaming mindset, ensure consent, and set rules for how we want to communicate within our trainings.

Meet our team! Let's start off with our founder and director Claude, who started EmpowerVan in 2023. As a true sports lover, she is the high energy accelerator who keeps pushing our mission to fight gender based violence.

Juma is part of the Male Agent of Change programme that was implemented by EmpowerVan in June 2026 in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. We are beyond excited to have men like him being part of the fight against gender based violence and positive masculinity. Read more about Juma's experience in our latest blogpost on our website.