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EmpowerVan

@empowervan

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💜 Peaceful Violence Prevention
🧡 Empowerment and Self Defense on the Move

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We are about courage, confidence, and community, and we show up where we're needed most. Help us empower refugee girls and women, by donating to keep the van rolling.

You can make a change today, because All We want for Christmas is gender justice! 🎁

Help us keep going 🔗LINK IN BIO🔗

#EmpowerVan #SelfDefense #WomensRights #Community #DonateForGood by @empowervan

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10 months ago

Today is the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women. We took the opportunity to kick-off our Christmas Fundraiser. We’re raising CHF 17,000 to keep EmpowerVan Greece on the road in 2026.

🚐 A van that keeps moving.
🥊 Trainers who keep showing up.
💜Women who keep fighting for their safety, their voice, their future.
✨You can help us reach them.

Every donation helps keep the van moving from shelter to camp, bringing free self-defense training to the women who need it most. If you can, then donate. It truly changes for the better.
Help us start strong

🔗 LINK IN BIO! by @empowervan

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10 months ago

What you see in this post is just a glimpse.

Behind every EmpowerVan training are long drives, shifting camp conditions, and the quiet, persistent work of building trust, even when no one shows up.

But EmpowerVan isn’t just a van or a class.
It’s a feminist mobile space. A moving message: You matter. You’re strong. You deserve to be safe.

We run self-defense trainings for women, by women at refugee camps where access to female solidarity is nearly nonexistent. We bring gloves, mats, and lesson plans, but what we really bring is presence. Community. Respect.

Sometimes the sessions are loud and full of energy.
Sometimes it’s just one woman who stops to have a conversation.
For us, both are a success.

This work is complex, often invisible, and deeply human.

And we can’t do it alone.

If you believe in what we do, if you want to support women standing up for other women, we’d love your support.

🟣💪 #EmpowerVan #FeministSolidarity #RefugeeSupport #WomenSupportingWomen #MobileSelfDefense #BeyondNumbers #Self-defense by @empowervan

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a year ago

Every woman and girl has the right to feel strong. At EmpowerVan we practice this hands-on by learning how to defend ourselves both verbally and physically.

We train easy techniques and emphasize that we don't need to be stronger, but smarter than our opponents! by @empowervan

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5 days ago

💌 🚐 our latest newsletter is out! Want to be up to date to the work of EmpowerVan, gain deep insights in what we’re doing and stay in the loop? Register to also receive our newsletter on our website.

link in bio by @empowervan

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7 days ago

“We discussed the importance of creating a safe space, and a respectful and supportive environment where everyone feels included.” - one of our Empowerment Self-Defense Instructors from Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Creating safe spaces is one of the baselines of Empowerment Self-Defense. A space is not solely safe because it is closed, shaded or in a compound. One of the most important factors of creating a safe space is creating a space with emotional safety.

How do we do this? We "set the container". We do agreements with our students, where we talk about confidentiality, undo victim-blaming mindset, ensure consent, and set rules for how we want to communicate within our trainings. by @empowervan

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12 days ago

Meet our team! Let's start off with our founder and director Claude, who started EmpowerVan in 2023. As a true sports lover, she is the high energy accelerator who keeps pushing our mission to fight gender based violence. by @empowervan

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14 days ago

PAWS OFF 🐯 an @empowervan @truerebel.ch collaboration
hand illustrated & fairly produced. Get your merch now in the true rebel webshop!

📸 @decharess by @empowervan

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18 days ago

Juma is part of the Male Agent of Change programme that was implemented by EmpowerVan in June 2026 in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. We are beyond excited to have men like him being part of the fight against gender based violence and positive masculinity. Read more about Juma's experience in our latest blogpost on our website. by @empowervan

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21 days ago

Check out our conversation with Claude Jonkmans from @empowervan about the harsh reality in the Kakuma camp in Kenya, the lack of economic opportunities for refugees, and the weather conditions that can have absolutely unexpected negative consequences.

Link in bio!🔗

#kenya #kakuma #migration #refugees by @empowervan

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25 days ago

«Initially, the men would see violence as something very normal, but they are now at the forefront of even speaking publicly and in open gatherings about SGBV, which was a taboo topic.»
Read more about the journey Juma, a member of our Male Agent of Change" programme, experienced through the interactive course, and how it helped him understanding to protect women and girls from Gender Based Violence.Link in bio by @empowervan

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a month ago

ROSA @rollingsafespace and EmpowerVan both run feminist and mobile-initiatives around Athens. While they create a safe space for women living in the camp to visit, we empower women to have skills to be safer from within.

Without ROSA we would not be able to reach as many women. We love empowering women together and can count on each other in our shared mission to keep displaced women and girls safe from gender based violence.

photos credits: @claramarnette by @empowervan

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a month ago