Self-Defence Training Cohort Graduates in Dhaka

A new cohort of young women completed NUK's self-defence (karate) training program in Dhaka, part of the organisation's broader Sports for Women's Empowerment initiative.

What the program builds

Beyond the physical techniques themselves, NUK designs the training to build participants' confidence in public spaces and their sense of bodily autonomy — qualities that NUK's research has linked to greater willingness among young women to participate in public life more broadly, including local civic and political engagement.

From the participants

Graduating participants described increased confidence navigating public transport and public spaces independently, outcomes consistent with NUK's internal monitoring of the program over previous cohorts.

This program runs alongside NUK's bicycle access initiative for rural girls, both designed to expand young women's independent mobility — a foundational requirement for consistent school attendance and, later, workplace and civic participation.

Program origins

NUK's self-defence training grew out of the same stakeholder research, conducted with Women Win, that led to NUK's successful advocacy for gender training within Bangladesh's national sports federations.