2019 Has Been a Very Empowering Year
Let’s look back on some of the biggest highlights and get ready for the New Decade
ESD Global spent 2019 traveling the world, speaking at conferences, training instructors, and making friends. It was a year of growth and growing pains, teaching and learning, launching new programs and expanding existing ones. In our two years on the path to Empowerment Through Self Defense, we have met beautiful people, reached out to all corners of the world, and, in so doing, realized that we are poised, at just the right time and place, to change the world.
So, we invite you to take a little walk through memory lane with us, helping us celebrate a year of successes. We are rolling up our sleeves. 2020 and the Decade of Empowerment are days away and we are ready to face it, hearts ablaze.
ESD Global Trainings
2019 saw a huge increase in training programs, with Instructor coming to ESDG at a number of locations throughout the year in order to take ESD skills back to their respective communities.
On May 10th, 13 women came together in Lesvos, Greece, thanks to our partnership with The Starfish Foundation, to learn the skills necessary to empower their communities. Two months later, in July, a team of 18 women trained in Costa Rica, at the beautiful University for Peace Campus in Ciudad Colón, with representatives from all around Latin America and from organizations such as Ni Una Menos.
Just a month later, in August, we celebrated our annual flagship training in New York State, with 2 all female-identifying Instructor cohorts and the launch of the Men’s Incubator, we walked away from a beautiful week in the forest with 31 level 1 graduates and a path forward to launch an ESD Global curriculum for Men and Boys in 2020.
All said and done, we finish 2019 with over 100 Level 1 Instructors in over 40 countries. And that’s just the beginning.
That’s Not All, Folks!
ESD Global also worked to help new, fledgling programs become a reality for areas in need. One such program is the Turtle Mountain Team on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Thanks to a partnership between IMPACT Boston and ESD Global, they are now able to provide Empowerment Self Defense and IMPACT Training in their area.
2019 also saw the launch of the ESD Global Mentorship Program, designed to provide ongoing support to all program graduates, from class materials and advice to continuing education efforts and beyond.
During our annual August training in NY State, we launched the Men's Incubator with a group of experts dedicated to bringing Empowerment Self Defense Skills to male-identifying members of the community in a meaningful, healing, and culturally appropriate way. This resulted in our pilot program, debuting at VPEC 2020, for Co-Ed instruction as well as a program for Men and Boys.
Spring and Summer of 2019 saw a group of female academics and experts also come together to define research tools and methodologies designed to help us measure the impact of ESD skills being introduced to communities.
Over the course of the year we grew from two part-time team members to 6, with most working at full-time or near full-time capacity, changes that were made to better support the rapid growth and hard work involved in attaining our Vision, a safer planet for everyone.
But, the best way to show you what we have been up to, what we have accomplished, is to let you see for yourself. So, here we are, bringing the decade to a close with images from women around the world bringing Empowerment Through Self Defense. Enjoy the show and get ready, because 2020 and The Decade of Empowerment promises to be bigger, better, and brighter than ever.
