Once upon a time
The idea for the World Hemp Festival began in the Nordics, inspired by Nordic innovation ecosystem and Himalayan heritage.
In recent decades, the Nordics have been pioneers in sustainability and wellbeing, demonstrating promising benefits for both people and the planet. Hemp, with its versatile applications, has become the natural ally in this journey, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in sustainable living and holistic health.
Meanwhile, in the Himalayas, hemp has long been integral to daily life and heritage, used for everything from food to fabric.
The goal is to showcase enduring heritage and explore the possibilities referring to Atharva Veda 11.6.15 and contemporary cutting-edge innovations from around the world.
Thus, the vision of the World Hemp Festival has evolved to connect heritage and innovation. It aims to promote hemp's sustainability and wellbeing applications by combining timeless wisdom with modern possibilities. The WHF is set to be observed during the prominent cannabis cultural heritage celebrating cannabis "Maha ShivaRatri" and "Holi"
About 20 individuals from diverse backgrounds met at the Samriddhi Foundation in Nepal to discuss hemp. After these meetings, our founder and a few others teamed up voluntarily to take the conversation further. They organized an event named HempHangout (भाङ मेला) in the garden of 'Ageno: The Hestia'. The logistics and program design were co-created with StoryCycle.
HempHangout (भाङ मेला) combined an "Unconference" and a fair to raise awareness about the socio-economic importance of hemp.
Covid had a significant influence on our efforts. We made multiple attempts to nurture our network, learning from both global and local initatives.
Post-Covid, events and gatherings gradually returned to normal. The second HempHangout (भाङ मेला) using a similar model, co-created with StoryCycle. Four varieties of hemp products were displayed.
Networking and developmental work. Ground work for the World Hemp Festival's first warmup event.
A WarmUp event under World Hemp Festival in collaboration with MCRC -Kathmandu University was successfully organised. With a participation of individuals from various influential stakeholders including Ministry of Home Affairs.
Extensive stakeholder engagement and involvement in the national cannabis policy draft.
We are actively forming partnerships and collaborations with hemp innovators and leaders dedicated to sustainability and wellbeing applications around the world.
Humble opportunity to advocate for the Hemp/cannabis friendly budget in the Nepal's National Budget for fiscal year 2024-25, where government endorsed for the first time budget for medical purpose. A lot more to do inspire sustainability applications.
Building community is a solid way to promote awareness about hemp's utility. Our work constantly will be focusing on that.