Summary

On October 7th, 2022, the World Karate Federation (WKF) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF Global) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at the Official Residence of Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles to officially join the Guardian Girls program and jointly launched the new partnership project called Guardian Girls Global Karate Project ("Guardian Girls Karate"). In launching of the new project, WKF, KIF and UNFPA have implemented the Guardian Girls Karate Seminar, a women's Karate defense-seminar, benefiting over 50 women from Los Angeles area in Downtown Los Angeles. Most of the participants had no Karate or martial arts experience before.

What

The Guardian Girls Karate Seminar is a one-time and one-day self-defense training session for girls and women at age between 18 to 24 years old. Every seminar is taught by female instructors who are well trained in Karate and self-defense. Each session is usually 90-minute long.

Where

Every Guardian Girls Karate Seminar is convened at a tournament venue in numerous countries where Karate 1-Premier League, the most important league event in the world of Karate, World Karate Championships, the highest level of competition for Karate and other high-level international Karate competitions are organized by the World Karate Federation. Occasionally, the Guardian Girls Karate Seminar is strategically implemented as a special session where there is no Karate tournament organized by WKF.

How

WKF, KIF and UNFPA fully utilize their own global resources and network to carry out their own responsibilities and roles to develop and implement the Guardian Girls Karate Seminars in every country they host the event in an inclusive and harmonious way. Each WKF, KIF and UNFPA coordinates with its own member federations, national chapters and country offices in a country where the Seminar is being hosted to bring together its own key stakeholders such as government ministers and elected officials, United Nations officials, NGO leaders, media and press representatives, corporate leaders and other community leaders in an inclusive way.

When

Various Guardian Girls Karate Seminars are implemented throughout the year in alignment with the WKF's tournament calendar.

Who

The Guardian Girls Karate Seminar provides opportunities for all girls and women at age 18+ with and without any Karate and martial arts experience, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion and sex.