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INDIA
FairFight ran self-defense and karate projects in Uttar Pradesh from July 2016 until March 2025. We supported thousands of women in getting self-defense training in rural communities and provided karate lessons for 20 Disha girls for nine years.
Disha House
Between 2016 and 2025, we supported the karate training of 20 girls under the residential care of the DISC Foundation. The girls came from extreme poverty and destitution, many of them taken in by the foundation as child-prostitutes or drug addicts. Thanks to the karate program initiated by FairFight, they found a space to rebuild their confidence and channel their feelings.
Shotokan karate classes were held at Disha House twice a week by Sensei Devesh and Sensei Pankaj from the ISKF, and the girls took part in gradings and competitions regularly. The most senior students achieved their blue belts by the time the project ended.
They trained with karate-gis and tatamis donated by FairFight. Several girls were selected each year for a national competition, which was a real adventure for girls who have never travelled. FairFight provided high level seminars with world-class athletes and martial arts masters to the girls and their trainers, including WKF athletes Alton Brown, Ali Nyoni and Paul Padda.
Facing increasing operational difficulties and challenging local regulations, including challenges in offering meaningful opportunities for the girls beyond karate, we made the decision to end our involvement in India in March 2025 to focus our impact and funding on our African programs.
Red Brigade
Program
In 2021, Team India coordinator Mary Stevens initiated a partnership with the Red Brigade Trust, a support group for women survivors of domestic violence, acid attacks and rape for a 4-year violence prevention training program. Red Brigade Trust advocates for women's rights in Uttar Pradesh and closely follows events of violence against women in the area.
In 2025, 25 women graduated from the program equipped with the skills to train their own communities and become violence prevention officers in their own right. The program has now ended, but sets a template for future FairFight self-protection programs in other locations.
Sarnath
Sponsorship
Between 2021 and 2023, FairFight partnered with Dragon Martial Arts Academy, a branch of ISKF UP in Sarnath, to sponsor two karate students, Anjali and Ganga, from their dojo. The girls both had brown belts and are clear contenders for black belts.
FairFight paid for their training, competition and grading fees, and provided their equipment.
