Every day, Deborah Gitta is received with excited giggles and knee-high hugs when she walks into her workplace. This is the world she has always dreamed of - healthy, happy children actively engaging in their learning. Deborah is the Founder and Director of Divine Day Care and Nursery located in Kajjansi, on the outskirts of Kampala. Growing up in Gayaza, Deborah ...
Zanzibaris are served by more than 200 health facilities providing primary, primary-plus, secondary and tertiary health care. Located in northern Unguja, Mnazi Mmoja Referral Hospital is the only tertiary-level institution that provides full referral facilities and comprehensive surgical care. Nursing resources are governed by the Zanzibar Nurses and Midwives Council, an independent body dedicated to the welfare of the members of ...
Agnes Ojok has been working at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu ever since she graduated with a diploma in nursing from the Kenya Medical Training College in 2009. The young girl who constantly admired how her aunt - a nurse - carried herself has blossomed into an outstanding nurse and midwife herself. Three years after joining the hospital as a ...
Distribution of masks, hand sanitizers, antibacterial soap, flour, pasta and cooking oil Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic - The University of Central Asia (UCA), together with volunteers and social workers, brought smiles to the faces of Naryn residents on 28 March, as families in need received care packages at their doorsteps. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UCA distributed food and medical supplies ...
Karachi, Pakistan, 9 April 2020 - Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has partnered with the Government of Pakistan to enable the delivery of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme, the largest social safety net initiative in Pakistan's history. This programme has been launched by the Government of Pakistan to support the daily wagers and piece-rate workers who have suffered from the lockdown in ...
When you are "eager" to return to work in a hospital during a pandemic, it might be safe to say that you have found your calling. That is the case for Dr Mehdi Irfani, a trainee at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Dr Irfani, who graduated from Aga Khan University last year, and is an alumnus of the ...
A self-assessment and awareness mobile app for COVID-19. Karachi, Pakistan, 8 April 2020 - "CoronaCheck", a new mobile application that allows users to conduct self-assessments at home while raising awareness of measures to prevent COVID-19, has been launched today by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). The self-assessment tool - an interactive chatbot, driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) -- allows users ...
Across the AKDN, we provide quality healthcare to over 5m patients a year. This is only possible because of the dedicated, hard working and exceptional healthcare professionals working in our hospitals, health centres and clinics. This World Health Day, we recognise them all and pay tribute to their passion and untiring efforts to keep everyone healthy - particularly in the trying times ...
Malika Zohra, 35 years old, lives in Danyore - a village in Gilgit District-15 km away from the central city of Gilgit. Malika is a Community Midwife (CMW), identified and trained under the Access to Quality Care through Extending and Strengthening Health Systems project (AQCESS) project, funded by Global Affairs Canada. Malika is the only earning member of her family; her ...
Professor Otterbeck's research presents critical insights into the global 'Nashid' phenomenon. Religious popular culture is a phenomenon on the rise, and a new generation of Muslim artists is using music, film, graphic novels, books and photography to express their identity. Mass-media art forms reach many young Muslims, and Professor Jonas Otterbeck, of AKU's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, is ...
Ifrah has been working as a Conservator on the Picture Wall for the last six months. Her primary responsibility is the surface treatment of the wall; cleaning it and stabilising the glaze work. Previously she studied architecture at the National University of Science & Technology, Islamabad. She was always interested in the heritage of Pakistan and Lahore and wanted to work ...
[H/T SIMERG] -- AGA KHAN FOUNDATION FOR CANADA -- In Canada, the Aga Khan Foundation is following all recommendations of the Government of Canada and other relevant authorities. That means, effective last week: We have suspended this year's World Partnership Walk and World Partnership Golf campaigns and will provide information on alternate plans for these soon. We have cancelled all tours of the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat building in Ottawa until further notice. Our travelling exhibit, In a Heartbeat, is suspended until further notice. We have postponed our International Youth Fellowship pre-departure training in Ottawa to begin at the end of July, with overseas placements beginning at the end of August. We ...
Emaan qualified as Fine Artist majoring in painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore. She was always interested in history and art and after graduating wanted to bring those two interests together. She heard about AKTC's restoration of the Shahi Hammam and gained a training position there where she worked for a year on the conservation and restoration of ...
Zeina, a Lahori, works as a Conservation Scientist having studied Chemistry at Columbia University in New York. In her second or third year of her degree she was concerned about where it would take her feeling that science was a very rigid discipline. She was becoming more interested in history and culture and wanted to pursue a career that had a ...
Nausheen Barkat has a mission in life: to take organic products from her hometown in Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan to the world. Her dream began while she was still a student at the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Hunza. Now as an alumna she has already taken an important first step. akes-pakistan_alumni_honey_story_2.jpg Nausheen and the retail side of the business.Copyright: AKDN / ...
ISMC's project has made two major advances during the research period. Professor Sarah Bowen Savant, of AKU's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, is using advanced algorithms to uncover large-scale patterns in ancient texts. She leads the KITAB--Knowledge, Information Technology and the Arabic Book--project, which has been created by an international team of experts in IT, history and the Arabic ...
Nairobi, Kenya, 25 March 2020 - In early March, Prince Rahim, accompanied by his wife, Princess Salwa, visited Kenya and Tanzania, to better understand the plans and responses of the various institutions and agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) towards environmental sustainability and climate action. Prince Rahim's visit to Kenya took place in his capacity as Chair of the ...
Over half of the populations of Pakistan lack access to safe and clean water and have no choice but to consume water from whatever source exists in their villages, regardless of quality. The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) -- with the help of communities -- identifies water sources in the village, tests the water quality using its technical expertise, develops ...
For many Muslims, gardens reflect the bounty of God and the blessings of life. Through the long history of Islam, there has been an outpouring of poetry and art that engages with spiritual topics, among them gardens as an embodiment of paradise, both earthly and heavenly. So too, extensive poetry, art and literature have been created that presents gardens as secular ...
Sumitra Devi, 35 years old, lives in Sakra, a village in the state of Bihar, India. Her household includes her husband (an agricultural labourer), son, parents-in-law, brother-in-law, and his family in a small brick house with two rooms. Until earlier this year, the family of nine did not have access to a toilet. Instead, they had to walk out to the ...
[H/T SIMERG] -- AKU is on the front lines of the response to this unprecedented health challenge. Our dedicated physicians, nurses and other medical staff are working tirelessly to save lives. You can support our efforts to secure specialised medical equipment, provide testing and life-saving care to the vulnerable through our Patient Welfare Programme, and address the needs of our physicians and healthcare personnel during this extraordinary time. We are immensely grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that we have received from all our supporters. The COVID-19 Fund would support the following ...
Tajikistan, 20 March 2020 - Under the Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Management Project (SWSMT), the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat Tajikistan (AKAH), successfully completed technical feasibility, hazard and environmental assessments for water supply systems for 75 targeted villages. It also established a rigorous water quality testing laboratory. AKAH, a co-implementer of the four-year SWSMT project led by the Aga Khan ...
Phase IV to increase Côte d'Ivoire's electricity by 30 percent. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, 17 March 2020 - In the fourth phase of its production, Azito Energie SA is working towards expanding Côte d'Ivoire's (Ivory Coast) installed electricity-generating capacity. When complete, Azito Energie will supply an additional 250 MW of electricity to approximately 706 MW, amounting to approximately 30 percent of the ...
Architects, art historians, engineers, fine artists, chemists, conservators, and ceramists make up the constellation of skilled young people working for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) on one of the largest restoration projects in Pakistan. The 17th century Mughal-era Picture Wall in Lahore's Walled City has been in a state of decay for over 100 years but thanks to the ...
Jurjen van der Tas describes the history of Islamic gardens, how they are being adapted for modern use, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture's 20-year journey of creating and restoring paradise gardens across the Islamic world. By Jurjen van der Tas, Deputy Director of the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme Gardens of Paradise take their name from the old Persian ...
Season of Immigration will feature 51 visual artists, 15 performances, and 10 speakers, representing more than 50 countries around the world. Toronto, Canada, 4 March 2020 -- The Aga Khan Museum ventures beyond the headlines about surging global migration with a new season celebrating the artistic contributions of immigrants and refugees. The Museum's Season of Immigration features three exhibitions that showcase ...
Kabul, Afghanistan, 7 March 2020 - To meet the critical needs for medical specialists in Afghanistan in fields such as pediatrics and cardiology, the French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC) graduated twelve specialists. Ten male and two female doctors were awarded certificates in seven specialisations, including Anesthesia, Radiology, Orthopaedics, Pediatric Surgery, Pathology, Pediatric Medicine and Cardiology. The certificates were ...
New York, USA, 6 March 2020 - Columbia University's Middle East Institute in New York and the Aga Khan University's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (ISMC) in London signed an agreement at Columbia University to mark the launch of their dual master's degree. The unique two-and-a-half-year degree brings together two of the world's leading universities and gives students the ...
"Influential universities must harness the power of strategic partnerships," says Vice Chancellor of Cambridge, Professor Toope. London, United Kingdom, 26 February 2020 - The Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust (Cambridge Trust), and the University of Central Asia (UCA), today extended their partnership agreement to develop faculty across Central Asia for a further three years. The agreement builds on an earlier ...
Cambridge, United Kingdom, 25 February2020 - The University of Central Asia (UCA) and the University of Cambridge signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 25 February 2020 to promote academic partnership, and collaborate in areas such as joint research, faculty and student exchange, as well as sharing of academic and educational material. The signing ceremony, at Cambridge's Old Schools Building, was attended ...
The AKDN undertakes a broad spectrum of activities to stimulate economic growth and development in the countries where it works. Whether it is supporting community-based savings groups or accelerating the growth of small enterprises, or engaging in small- and large-scale infrastructure projects or promoting tourism and tourism-based employment, or restoring historic world monuments and other cultural assets that spark local economies, ...
Nasrullah is a proud father. He tells the story of his son's success and the impact it had on his family. In 2010, the Aga Khan Education Service, Afghanistan began offering English and computer programmes in Nasrullah's village of Dahan-e-Zargha in the Doshi district of Baghlan Province in Afghanistan. Abdul Razaq, Nasrullah's son, immediately enrolled in the basic level English class ...
Ready to start his workday, Alijon Davlatmirov sits among broken chairs, tables, and a car in queue to be repaired. Not only is his repair business saving money for the members of his community, he is helping the environment by reducing landfill waste in the region. Alijon, 31, left his hometown in Buni village in the Shugnan district of Tajikistan, moving ...
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 20 February 2020 - The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) and its partner the State Agency for Hydrometeorology (Hydromet), with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland, successfully launched the knowledge and data-sharing platform dubbed "Open Centre" today at Hydromet offices in Dushanbe. Officially known as the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), the "Open Centre" is the third ...
I was born and bred in Uganda and, after graduating from the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa, moved to Iowa to study at Grinnell College. It was at Grinnell College that I met my co-founder, Maijid Moujaled. Like myself, Maijid was an international student and was born in Ghana. At college, I studied economics, while Maijid studied computer science. During my junior ...
Growing up in Jalal-Abad, the Kyrgyz Republic, Baisal spent his childhood with school friends and helping his mother care for his two younger siblings. His favorite memories, however, featured admiring his mother's paintings that seemingly came to life in their living room. Baisal was always drawn to the arts, but there were few opportunities for him to make a life as ...
Bacar Andinane lives in Cabo Delgado, the northernmost province of Mozambique, bordering Tanzania. Living in this part of the world is not easy. According to the World Bank, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. Education and economic opportunities are often out of reach. Bacar was a young man who was struggling to make ends meet. But ...
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 14 February 2020 - The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) and the Academy of Science of Tajikistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will facilitate the 6th International Conference "Debris Flow: Disasters, Risk, Forecast and Protection". The conference, which will take place in Tajikistan from 21-27 September 2020, will enable national and international scientists and practitioners to ...
These are the keys to a lock box where 12 members of a savings group in Mozambique are investing their earnings. With the return on their investments, they have been able to make basic improvements to their homes, like a freezer, an oven, a table and chairs, bowls and plates, and a roof that does not leak. Here is how it ...
AKU's Master in Digital Journalism is a first in East Africa. Nairobi, Kenya, 12 February 2020 - Ten journalists have graduated with a master's degree in digital journalism, the first programme of its kind in Kenya and East Africa at the Aga Khan University's 16th convocation in Kenya. A total of 93 students received diplomas and degrees in oncology nursing, nursing, ...
