Our Reports & Media Coverage

Reports

Two women with short dark hair and athletic clothing practicing self-defense or martial arts outside at night near a chain-link fence with barbed wire, one woman in a white t-shirt with purple graphics and the other in a light gray t-shirt, engaging in a training exercise or sparring.
A classroom with a group of women, some wearing hijabs, sitting and listening to a woman at the front who is sitting at a desk, writing on a whiteboard with notes and drawings. The room has posters and drawings on the walls and a window with closed blinds.

EmpoverVan in the Media

  • SURVIVING VS LIVING. Long displacement in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya

    SURVIVING VS LIVING. Long displacement in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya

    23.04.2026 · In this ReFOCUS episode Claude speaks about our work delivering self-defence training in Kakuma Refugee Camp. She explores what empowerment looks like in one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee settings and why programs like ours are critical in contexts marked by insecurity, poverty and limited opportunity.

    Watch Here

  • Muay Thai fighter teaches refugees self-defence

    27.02.2026 · In this BBC feature, Muay Thai fighter and EmpowerVan volunteer Kat Samuelson shares how she uses her skills to teach self-defence to women in refugee camps near Athens, focusing less on perfect technique, and more on confidence, boundaries, and feeling powerful in their own bodies.

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  • Gender-based violence is structural in refugee camps in Greece

    01.03.2026 · This Altreconomia article follows EmpowerVan in refugee camps across Greece, showing how gender-based violence is embedded in the camp system—driven by confinement, lack of protection, and limited support for women.

    Read Article (in IT)

  • Self‑Defence, Hope and Community for Girls on the Move

    26.11.2025 · This NRT feature follows our founder, ClaudeJonkmans, from her hometown of Deep River, Canada, to refugee camps across Europe, where she launches EmpowerVan - a feminist, mobile project bringing empowerment self-defence, safety, and community directly to girls and women seeking asylum.

    Read Article (PDF)

Governance

EmpowerVan is a registered association in Switzerland. You can find our statutes here (PDF).