KOCHI: Of late, not a day gets by without at least one case of a woman getting assaulted making headlines. This has increased the need to equip women and girls with techniques that will help protect themselves from such attacks.
Taking note of this need, Kudumbashree and the Sports Kerala Foundation launched a joint project called Dheeram that envisages empowering women through self-defence and self-confidence building.
Two years since the launch of the project, Dheeram has clicked with the women associated with the Kudumbashree units in the state. “Around 332 women from all the 14 districts in the state have undergone training in various self-defence techniques,” says G Preetha, co-ordinator of the project. According to her, the project was envisaged to have three stages.
“In the first phase, two women each, who had prior training in one or more martial arts like karate, taekwondo, judo or kalarippayattu, were selected from every district and given a month-long training that was held at Thiruvananthapuram. Once the training was over we had 28 master trainers all set to further the programme,” says Preetha.
She says, “These were the 28 master trainers who would be the ones giving training to candidates selected for the next phase of the project. In the second phase, the aim was to get 30 women from each district to undergo a year-long training in self-defence techniques. However, the number of women who showed interest varied between 15 to 30.” After the second phase, a total of 332 women were certified by the Sports Kerala Foundation as trainers.
Speaking to the TNIE, D Sujina, a master trainer in Ernakulam, says, “Now, these 332 women will be able to provide training to other women and children in the areas under their Kudumbashree units. However, not all of these trainers have shown a willingness to proceed to the third stage of the project which involves giving training to interested candidates. In the third stage, a six-month course module has been arrived at. The women who will be given training will be those in the CDS units in the panchayats.”
According to Preetha, besides helping women learn self-defence, the project also aims to create a livelihood for them by forming martial arts training groups on an entrepreneurial model. Explaining more Sujina says, “Each master trainer has their capabilities and martial arts expertise. For example, I am well-versed in karate and kalarippayattu. The other master trainer in Ernakulam is more into taekwondo, judo and karate. So we teach our trainees the martial arts that we are well-versed with.”
She says, “These trainers will provide martial arts training to women and girls in schools, colleges, and residents’ associations.” According to Preetha, master trainers at the district level receive an honorarium of Rs 10,000. Recently, a campaign was held to create awareness among the women regarding the project and the benefits thereof.”