Giving girls in India tools for self-defence and self-reliability

The right to education is a universal human right. For girls in particular, it is non-negotiable. In India, schools are open to girls from all strata of society, sure enough. But how easy is it for girls to actually make use of this right? As Sonja Kabbashi-Andjelkovic, one of the founders of Business Makes Sense, explains, the simple act of going to school can prove rather difficult. “For most young girls from the countryside, going to high school in Delhi is a major challenge. They take upon themselves a long and perilous journey from their villages to the Indian capital, just to attend class.” Even before stepping foot in a school building, the road to Delhi itself is dangerous. “They are often subjected to gender-based violence, assault and harassment,” she maintains. “It’s incredibly risky for them to exercise their right to education.”

As Indian NGO ‘Breakthrough’ found in a study in 2014, as many as 52% of all schoolgirls face some form of sexual harassment on their way to school. 23% have had to deal with incidents in schools or college buildings.

The solution at hand: Girls need to be able to defend and assert themselves.

More than martial arts training

And so the concept of Shakti was born in 2016: to help provide for girls’ safety in and around Delhi. “The idea to help give vulnerable girls the tools to defend themselves came through a meeting in Delhi, with a colleague and taekwondo blackbelt holder, Karthik,” Sonja explains. “We asked Karthik’s master, if his business would be willing to support our project,” Sonja continues, “and he agreed to it immediately.”
But Shakti means more than teaching the girls martial arts to master challenging or dangerous situations: It also gives them prospects for the future, strengthens their resilience, improves their well-being and physical and mental condition as well as their school performance. In addition, BMS took care of the nutrition of the girls before the training.

Small investment, large return

For the relatively small amount of €200 per girl for annual tuition – including a taekwondo uniform, a breakfast per day, and transport costs to competitions (which they started taking part in after a year of training) – ten girls made the first cut in 2016. Originally working with Mr. Krishnas Taekwondo Matrix Academy in Noida, they managed to create quite the buzz with their newfound skills, by winning belts and getting to school without incident. When the girls won belts and fame, regional interest increased, and eventually, around 30 new girls joined the next round of training.
The project costs of approximately €2,000 were covered by German philanthropists, and the training has been held by the Taekwondo Matrix Academy in Delhi. In India, martial arts enjoy widespread recognition, and the Taekwondo Association of India (TAI) works tirelessly around the country with more than 3,000 schools and clubs, training millions of students.
The training continued until April 2020 and was only interrupted due to the COVID pandemic. The trainings are about to resume with a new batch in Delhi and another one in Bangalore in November/December 2022.

Next is income opportunity

But there is more: “Not only do girls need self-defence and martial arts skills”, says Karthik, “they also need opportunities for income.”
Besides learning taekwondo for self-defence, the girls get the chance to compete in contests and they will – in a second stage – learn how to become taekwondo trainers themselves. By enabling and helping to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for girls who make it to the black belt and become instructors, Business Makes Sense also found its calling: To support social businesses and contribute to economic and social development.