In the news

Action for Health is preparing for the “Year-1” round of surveying in August, with the continued support of Brown University and new partners at the Aga Khan Development Network. Since last year, Mali Health has been working with professors of health economics at Brown University to launch a randomized control evaluation of Action for Health.  The multi-year study aims to clarify the impact of free care and community health worker visits on the health of our target children, and provide analysis on health behaviors in similar communities.

While it will be back to books for children as schools reopen in Hyderabad, India this week, their English teachers will be back in classrooms having honed their skills at a refresher course on grammar to teach their students. Considering that many teachers in the state are in dire need of training in English, the state government joined hands with the Aga Khan Academy to support the Outreach Programme, which was earlier funded by the academy alone.

Donors meeting in London this weekend are set to pledge several billion dollars to promote simple, low-cost measures to prevent permanent stunting and boost economic development.

A team of experts from UNESCO and Mali, including some from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, has found damage to Timbuktu’s cultural heritage more extensive than first estimated. The team travelled to the fabled city this week to carry out a thorough assessment of the situation, following the systematic attacks by the rebel forces that occupied the region until early this year. The mission was the first step towards the reconstruction and safeguarding of this heritage, much of which is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Members of the NGO alliance InterAction have pledged to invest more than $750 million in nutrition programs over the next five years, the U.S.-based group said in a joint statement with the 1,000 Days Partnership. Read the full press release from PR Newswire here.
 

The Collegium of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan approved the Early Childhood Education (ECE) curriculum for an alternative preschool education model. The ECE curriculum was developed by Academy of Education in collaboration with UNICEF and Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan. Read the full article from Asia-Plus here.
 

The University of Central Asia’s Institute of Public Policy and Administration published the second edition of its English-Russian Glossary of Terms and Concepts in Public and Economic Policy, Administration and Trade. The book was launched during a regional four-stop tour by renowned economist and policy analyst Oleksandr Kiliievych, who compiled both editions of the glossary. Read the full article from Kabar here.
 

On Tuesday June 4, the World Bank Group marked the 20th anniversary of its cooperation with Tajikistan -- a partnership that has made an important contribution to reducing poverty and promoting economic growth and development in Tajikistan. One such project, the Pamir Energy program, supported by the World Bank and IFC in partnership with the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and the Government of Switzerland, is providing round the clock electricity to 74 percent of Badakhshan residents.

Serena Hotel’s Gilgit-Baltistan Collection celebrated “World Environment Day” on June 5th. The focus of the celebration was to reduce its environmental foodprint, reinforcing its commitment to operate its hotels & heritage properties as a responsible tourism business and bring a positive change within the tourism industry in Pakistan. Read the full article from Pamir Times here.
 

Some eleven kilometres outside of Arusha, Tanzania on the Dodoma road, a major project is set to take off. Once an agricultural land with coffee plantations and a wheat farm, the area will soon be transformed into the largest campus in East Africa for the Aga Khan University, whose presence in the region dates back 110 years. Read the full article from The Citizen here.