Continuing Our Mission: Eight Years of Women Empowerment

2025 marks our eighth year since we started our women empowerment activities in Nepal — a journey shaped by inspiration, challenges, valuable lessons, and meaningful growth.

We are proud to share the wonderful article that recently appeared in Wereld Magazine, featuring the inspiring life stories of Kusumi and Nanu. Two strong Nepalese women who have forged their own paths and are now becoming true role models within their community.

End of January 2026, Iris ten Thije organised an Ideation Sprint for us with a team of behavioral scientists at SUE | Behavioural Design Academy, with the goal of supporting the women at our Soap Studio towards self-reliance.

By buying through doelshop.nl you can support our activities in Nepal.

The ladies are undergoing an intensive 4 weeks ICT training. Six days a week they are taught how to use a computer and the computer software.

On November 11th we left again for our beloved Nepal. At Amsterdam Airport, before we boarded our flight, we received very good news:

• The soap studio in Chitwan obtained their export license.

• All 3 soap formulae that we want to import into the Netherlands are EU-certified.

A great way to start our trip, just in time for the Royal Christmas Fair in December.

While the festival of lights (Diwali) has been celebrated in Nepal, we are slowly thinking about Christmas again. And so is the Royal Christmas Fair on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague. 6 Degrees will once again be a familiar face at the market together with a big team of volunteers. From Thursday the 5th of December until Monday the 23rd, we will be at the market with beautiful, high-quality Nepalese products, including our première, our Hāāmī soaps. In beautiful gift boxes or for sale per piece.

On 22 September we organised an After Summer Wine Tasting event together with our partner Strandpaviljoen De Kwartel.

On Saturday, June 15th, the Nepal Federation Netherlands organised the annual Nepal Congress in Bodegraven. Always a good time for 6 Degrees to network and exchange knowledge and experience with other organisations that also work in Nepal. In addition, this year the organising committee consisted of 3 team members from 6 Degrees.

Selling products is one of the ways to contribute to job creation and employment for Nepalese women to gain financial independence. We are very pleased that the corporate gifts brochure is ready and that you can now order your products. They are especially suited as corporate gifts for companies. 
 

The 2023 annual report shows a year of progress and empowerment for women in Nepal. Through its innovative initiatives and dedicated efforts, 6 Degrees is making a lasting impact on the lives of women.

On April 2nd we left again for our beloved Nepal. This time we had 3 main goals:

• Source beautiful, handmade Nepali products made by women for our corporate gifts campaign and the Royal Christmas Fair.

• Find the right partner to set up an entity for our Soap Studio.

• Find a dedicated Operations Manager for our Soap Studio.

For our Soap Studio, we are currently looking for an Operations Manager to run the daily operations. The Soap Studio is in its start-up phase and there are currently five women working producing soap.

Evonne (36 years old) was born and raised in the sunny island city state of Singapore, as she states it. She wanted to volunteer in Nepal and came across 6 Degrees’ website. “The commitment and sustainable activities that the organisation supports left a significant impression on me and before I knew it, I was having an online chat with Debbie and Gita,” says Evonne, who recently gave a marketing training to the women of the soap project. 

6° Network for Women is evolving. With help from the Nieuwe Gevers platform, 6°’s strategy was revisited and refined. The most important question is always: how do we, as a social enterprise, create the most impact for women in Nepal?

6 Degrees is supporting a Barista training programme with 10 women that was initiated by our partner SVSI with the mutual cooperation of Mirakunja Bufferzone and Riksja Travel.

6 Degrees recently welcomed a new volunteer, Yvette Feeke. Currently, she is still in Nepal, where she is enjoying her sabatical and also lending her expertise to various organisations. She recently quit her job as a manager at Ikea, where she led complex projects. She is currently in-between jobs.

At the end of September 2023, we left again for our beloved Nepal. Normally we go for 12 days and have a full programme. This time we included a 4-days trekking to our trip.

Gillian and Bard Dolmans (daughter and father) achieved a great result with the Mt. Everest Marathon Run. With this fantastic challenge they also raised money for 6 Degrees. A total of 4000 Euros was raised.

Our annual report 2022 has been published.

Oratory competition held for young women on International Women’s Day.

Gillian and Bard will participate in the Mount Everest Marathon on May 29 and raise funds for 6 Degrees.

Gita and Debbie will be present at the ASH Spring Bazaar on 13 May.