AKDN

Delhi, India, 18 December 2020 - The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has won two important awards from UNESCO's Asia-Pacific regional office - for cultural heritage conservation and sustainable development - in Delhi's Sunder Nursery. The prizes include: - The 2020 Award for Special Recognition for Sustainable Development - The 2020 Award for Excellence The awards were established in 2000 ...

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Islamabad, Pakistan, 3 December 2020 - The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) won the World Habitat Awards 2020 Gold Award today for its "Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Technology for Safer Habitat" project. In the winning project, AKAH pioneered the use of Hazard Vulnerability and Risk Assessments (HVRAs), which integrate science, technology and local knowledge for disaster risk management and sustainable ...

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Geneva, Switzerland, 24 November 2020 - His Highness the Aga Khan, on behalf of the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), today reaffirmed his enduring commitment to a peaceful and pluralistic Afghanistan. In a statement delivered at the virtually held 2020 Afghanistan Conference by AKDN's Diplomatic Representative to Afghanistan Sheherazade Hirji, His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary ...

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Paris, France, 11 November 2020 - As a Founding Member of the Paris Peace Forum, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is pleased to participate in the Third Edition of the Forum taking place on 11-13 November 2020. This year's Forum is being held online, allowing for more than 10,000 participants, including heads of state and government, leaders from civil society ...

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Geneva, Switzerland, 27 October 2020 - The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the cultural agency of the Aga Khan Development Network, has announced the creation of the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP). Effective immediately, all existing activities of the Aga Khan Music Initiative and Aga Khan Music Awards are consolidated under the new programme, whose headquarters will remain in Geneva. aktc-akmi-akmp-womex-web-banner-vertical-2020.jpg ...

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Karachi, Pakistan, 2 November 2020 - In a country that ranks among the top states affected by climate-induced disasters, an urban forest inaugurated at the Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan School in Karimabad, Karachi, kicked off the process of greening Aga Khan Education Service (AKES) schools in Pakistan. The forest, which covers an area of 48 square metres / 516 square ...

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Kabul, Afghanistan, 26 October 2020 - Bala Hissar citadel site, which is a registered National Monument and the largest open space in the Kabul, will be transformed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) into a public archaeological park. The works follow a decree in 2018 by His Excellency President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and funding by the ALIPH Foundation. When ...

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Accelerate Prosperity and Ignite-National Technology Fund in joint initiative Islamabad, Pakistan, 23 October 2020 - To promote entrepreneurship and boost private sector growth in Pakistan, Accelerate Prosperity (an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Industrial Promotion Services (IPS)), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ignite-National Technology Fund of the Federal Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication. The ...

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Finding a good job often requires a command of the English language and computer literacy. Suhaima, who was born in Mazar-i-Sharif in the Balkh province of Afghanistan and now lives in Faizabad with her family, discovered these requirements when finishing university and entering the labour market. In response, she enrolled in English courses at University of Central Asia (UCA)'s School for ...

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Ensuring tangible food security, agricultural development and sustainable resource management has been at the centre of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF)'s activities since it began. Agriculture remains the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40 percent of today's global population. The world's 500 million small farms worldwide provide up to 80 percent of the food consumed. However, 800 ...

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Environment and climate are core strategic priorities for AKDN, stressing that good environmental stewardship is part of the development agenda and ensuring that the Earth can sustainably support future generations. In line with this goal, AKDN agencies and institutions have worked towards a number of goals, including reforestation. For example the Aga Khan Foundation and the Mountain Societies Development Support Programme ...

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Whether it is more efficient smoke-free stoves in northern Pakistan, a hydroelectric plant in Uganda, cooling the buildings of the Aga Khan University in Karachi or installing a solar array at an Aga Khan Health Services-managed hospital in Afghanistan, good stewardship of the environment has always been one of the underlying ethics driving the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)'s work. Now, ...

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Karachi, Pakistan and Geneva, Switzerland, 14 October 2020 - In a bid to spotlight the dire consequences of climate change in Central and South Asia, the Aga Khan University, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and the University of Central Asia launched a film series focusing on the catastrophic impact of the rapid melting of the world's largest repository of ice ...

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Working with local governments and communities, AKAH implements a wide range of disaster risk reduction (DRR) programmes across Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Syria, and Tajikistan. DRR programmes include hazard, risk and vulnerability assessments; disaster preparedness education; emergency response and search and rescue training; and structural mitigation projects for all levels of community and institutional structures, such as building flood retaining walls, riverbank ...

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Islamabad, Pakistan, 6 October 2020 - The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), Pakistan and the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan announced a $4.2 million project to plant 50 million trees across the region to reduce climate change and protect against natural disasters. Pakistan ranks among the top ten countries affected by climate-induced disasters in the last two decades. Within Pakistan, mountain areas ...

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When Talaibek Osmonov and his wife, Elza, completed the University of Central Asia (UCA) School of Professional and Continuing Education's (SPCE) Entrepreneurship programme in Naryn in 2016-2017, they planned to build a yurt business and promote tourism in their hometown - the Alysh village of Naryn. uca-kyrgyz-republic-yurt.jpg3D rendering of the Bai-Tor resort.Copyright: UCAWith a loan provided by UCA and the Kyrgyz ...

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Islamabad, Pakistan, 22 September 2020 - The Elaj Asan mobile application, which facilitates doctor-patient interactions, was launched by the Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan (AKHS,P), in collaboration with Aga Khan Development Network Digital Health Resource Centre (AKDN dHRC). akhs-pakistan-screen_2.pngThe Elaj Asan app allows patients to schedule appointments with doctors at AKHS facilities.The Elaj Asan app allows patients to schedule appointments with ...

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Founded on ethics and values that drive progress and positive change, these civil society institutions - of education, health, science and research, and culture, to name a few - harness the private energies of citizens committed to the public good. The AKDN has been building these institutions for over 100 years - including schools, clinics and hospitals, companies offering essential goods ...

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With the outbreak of COVID-19, Istoray's business ground to a halt. A lockdown order on the market where Istoray's business operated caused her, and many others, to lose their business and income. "My business was on the brink of falling down, when I suddenly realised that I can save not only my business but also people of my community," she said. ...

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Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a five-year civil war, Tajikistan's electrical infrastructure was in need of significant investment. Among the most affected areas was the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), where economic and human development was stifled during the cold winter months as a result of a lack of electricity for heating and the consequent closure of ...

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Nairobi, Kenya, 12 August 2020 - Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Limited (DTB) has signed an agreement for a US$ 50 million loan with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to support its borrowers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The funds are being provided under IFC's global US$ ...

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Naigino Martha is deaf. She lives with her sister about 30km outside of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Martha, like many others, works as a casual labourer at a factory on the outskirts of the city. She has not been able to work since lockdown began. COVID-19 and the resultant restrictions have made her life very difficult. On 31 March, the Ugandan ...

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When the Indian Government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, to create an open defecation free India, AKDN contributed an award-winning model of integrated block-level sanitation called the Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative. A central component of the initiative is generating demand for improved hygiene practices, tackling age-old norms and transforming long-standing behaviour change - and thereby improving the quality ...

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The world's 1.1 billion girls are a source of power, energy and creativity. When they have access to the right institutions and environments to learn and grow, girls can unlock new opportunities for themselves and their communities. But gender barriers and social norms limit choices and rights - for boys and men, too - and stand in the way of growth ...

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Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 4 August 2020 - An emergency project aimed at reducing Tajikistan's vulnerability to COVID-19-related food insecurity will benefit an estimated 11,985 people (5,865 women and girls) directly and about 80,395 indirectly. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), with the support of the Government of Switzerland, has successfully launched the project in 12 districts of Khatlon region, Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, ...

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Mittal Vasava, age 20, was living in rural Gujarat when she learned from a friend about Yuva Junction. Mittal's family belongs to India's semi-nomadic "scheduled tribes", amongst the country's most marginalised groups. With no business connections or high school education, Mittal had dim prospects for a 21st-century job. But she was eager to learn and try. In India, over half of ...

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Daler Jumaev, General Director of Tajikistan's Pamir Energy (part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development), spoke at the World Hydropower Congress 2019 in Paris about bringing clean and affordable energy to Tajikistan and neighbouring Afghanistan. It was 6:57pm on 9 September 2018. We turned on electricity for the township of Murghab. Within two minutes, a wave of celebration came ...

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For over 100 years AKDN has been creating schools, hospitals, newspapers, electricity generation plants, parks and museums, institutions which have helped improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Some of these institutions have been setting or raising standards in their fields for decades. All of them endeavour to bring about a more inclusive society that would ...

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The Aga Khan Development Network is largely an implementing partner. It actively seeks to co- operate with like-minded institutions in the design, implementation and funding of innovative development projects. Its agencies need and welcome institutions and individuals throughout the world as partners. AKDN also works closely with local, state and national governments in each country in which it is active. ...

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Favziya Shonazmieva, resident of Porshnev village in the Shugnan district of Tajikistan, wanted to continue working after becoming a mother. After not finding a suitable kindergarten or preschool centre in her neighbourhood for her child, she came up with the idea of establishing a modern Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre. Although Favziya had the necessary facilities to establish the centre, she ...

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The Bank also wins "Pakistan's Best Bank 2020" for a second year running. Karachi, Pakistan, 16 July 2020 - Euromoney awarded the Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) the dual accolades of Asia's Best Bank Transformation 2020 and Pakistan's Best Bank 2020 (the latter award for the second year running). Key elements that helped HBL win these awards were HBL's work in the ...

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Mastuj, Pakistan, 4 July 2020 - A 20-bed emergency response centre for COVID-19 patients, established by the Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan (AKHS,P), was inaugurated in Mastuj, Upper Chitral. The Centre follows similar emergency response centres recently established at Booni and Garamchashma that respond to the rising number of infections in the districts of Upper and Lower Chitral. Construction for the ...

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