Boxgirls organizes boxing and self-defense training for 160 adolescent girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in the slums of Nairobi. Boxgirls also builds girls' knowledge and skills on reproductive health, as well as address gender-based violence and economic empowerment.
Boxgirls is particularly successful at challenging gender norms in the community. They frequently organize outdoor boxing tournaments to engage the community in watching girls participate in what is considered a male sport, and they use the boxing ring as a platform for educating the community through, for example, role-play on issues facing the girls in the community.
"Boxgirls, it is when girls come together. It is a place for girls' issues: things that affect them in the society, in the families and in the communities. Also it is a place where girls feel at home because they can say anything they want, compared to in the families. So it is where they are, they get more knowledge than most places, and see the other girls in other communities so that they can focus ahead. I've become more courageous, I can stand before people, I can just say that what a man can do I can also do."
- Boxgirl, age 20, completed primary school, with two years' experience in the program
Boxgirls organizes boxing and self-defense training for 160 adolescent girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in the slums of Nairobi.