Council of Europe Recognizes SASANE
Work of SASANE & its for profit arm Sisterhood Trekking & Travel were recognized at the European Council as the Finalist of the Vigdiz Prize 2026. It was named one of the finalists for the prestigious Vigdís Prize at the Council of Europe, an honor that carried its survivor-led model from the mountains of Nepal to the chambers of the continent’s foremost human-rights institution.
The Vigdís Prize, awarded under the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, celebrates outstanding work in the empowerment of women — a cause that has defined SASANE Sisterhood from its first day. To be selected as a finalist is to be placed among the organizations Europe regards as leaders in advancing women’s rights and opportunities. For a grassroots enterprise built by and for survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and child marriage, it was extraordinary validation that a women-empowerment travel operator from Nepal belongs in that conversation.
Our work was presented before the Parliamentary Assembly itself, where it received a heartwarming applause from champions and icons of women’s empowerment from across Europe and beyond. That moment captured something essential about our mission: that the women who guide and run it — once among the most marginalized in Nepal — now stand as examples on one of the world’s most respected human-rights stages.
What earns SASANE Sisterhood this standing is a model in which Survivors are trained as professional paralegals, trekking and tour guides, equipped to lead travelers through Nepal while rebuilding their own independence and protecting others in their communities. Every journey channels income into rural mountain villages, and every booking strengthens the economic security that is the surest defense against exploitation. Tourism, in SASANE’s hands, becomes a direct instrument of women’s rights.
The Vigdís recognition matters because it connects that local work to a global movement. The Council of Europe’s interest signals that survivor-led enterprises is not a niche idea but a model with lessons for institutions far beyond Nepal — proof that economic empowerment, dignity and protection can be delivered through an industry as everyday as travel.
For travelers, this is part of what makes a journey with SSTT meaningful. To trek with SSTT is to support an organization whose work has been honored at the Council of Europe — to know that an ordinary holiday in the Himalayas is tied to a mission that Europe’s leading voices for women have stood and applauded. It is the difference between visiting Nepal and helping to change it.
Read more: https://pace.coe.int/en/pages/vigdisprize
