Kenyan karateka wins Commonwealth leadership grant

• The award will help her get into Sports Management
• She is one of 25 women to have been given the award
• This is the second cohort of the program

Kenyan karateka Joyce Juma has been awarded a scholarship for the Commonwealth Women’s Leadership Programme 2023 (CWLP).

The award will give the athlete an opportunity to up skill towards personal development in sports management and develop a program that supports sports development in the community.

Joyce is one of the 25 women within the Commonwealth nations and territories in this program that will support these emerging female leaders to access appropriate educational and experiential opportunities to empower them as leaders for equal rights within their sport and communities.

This is the second cohort of the program. The inaugural program was in 2022 where Cycling Administrator Angela Achieng managed to go through the program.

Competitive process 

NOC-K Secretary General, Francis Mutuku, explaining the scholarship process said, ‘It was a competitive process of selection of candidates, and we are happy that the best candidate turned out to be an active athlete, whose application was positively by the Commonwealth Games Federation to undertake the program, and awarded the grant of five thousand pounds.’

Mutuku also mentioned that, ‘We have kick started a number of programs for women in sport as we push the agenda of gender balance, which is still a challenge. This is part of our ‘Step Up’ program, with the objective of building the capacity of women in sports in Kenya.’

‘Within the women in sports programme, we are supporting technical and administration officials in terms of training and exposure. We have held forums with leaders, coaches, journalists, referees and administrators. And we are implementing the recommendations from these forums on how to bridge the gap.’

Program to run for 12 months 

The program will run for 12 months, with the beneficiaries having bespoke development plans to fit their current status and ambitions, as well as adapted programs for their communities.

Joyce commenting on the program mentioned, ‘I am very excited and happy about this new path I am taking to develop as a leader. My aim is to grow not only myself but also other women’

Joyce will benefit from mentors in the program with their professional knowledge and experiences, to enable participants to achieve their goals