NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14 – Karate athlete Joyce Juma has been awarded a scholarship for the Commonwealth Women’s Leadership Programme 2023.
The award will give the athlete an opportunity to up her skill towards personal development in sports management and grow a program that supports sports in the community.
Joyce is one of the 25 women within the Commonwealth nations 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.
Joyce becomes the second beneficiary of the program after Cycling Administrator Angela Achieng managed to go through the program last year.
“I am 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 said.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya (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 approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation to undertake the program.”
“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,” Mutuku said.
“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.”
The program will run for 12 months, with the beneficiaries having modified development plans to fit their current status as well as adapted programs for their communities.
