Skills for Safety – Evaluation Report

The Ministry of Social Development has funded self defence classes for school-age girls since 2001, primarily through the Women’s Self Defence Network – Wāhine Toa.  The Ministry commissioned two reports in 2014-16 looking at the effectiveness of self defence programmes for girls and women as a strategy for protection against violence.

‘Skills for Safety – Evaluation Report’, March 2016, by independent researchers Assoc. Prof. Jan Jordan and Dr Elaine Mossman of Victoria University of Wellington presents findings from an outcome evaluation of girls' and women's self defence courses run by the Women’s Self Defence Network – Wāhine Toa (WSDN-WT). 

The research shows how successful defence courses for girls and women can be when taught by specialist trained and accredited female self-defence teachers with a clear empowerment approach.