In the news

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) announced a grant to the Synergos Institute to work in partnership to advance social entrepreneurship in Central Asia as a path to social and economic development for the region. Synergos and the AKDN will implement activities through the Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, a three-year collaborative program to create and support a robust social entrepreneurship movement in select countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

John Tugume of the Daily Monitor talked to Mr. Nazeem Mohamed, the chief executive officer of Kampala Pharmaceuticals Industries, based in Uganda, about the sensitive job of producing quality life-saving drugs. Read the full interview here.
 
Kampala Pharmaceutical Industries is a branch of The Aga Khan Development Network.

When you think of great architecture of the Muslim world, your mind probably turns to the iconic curves and patterns of ancient buildings, from the Alhambra to the Dome of the Rock to the Taj Mahal. While traditions of form and function persist, it's hard to box in the various contenders on the shortlist for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the triennial prize for outstanding design in societies with significant Muslim populations.

In an editorial essay Karim Khoja, Roshan CEO, discusses his firm's part in a new generation of companies that are redefining the concept of a social enterprise in emerging markets. This approach derives from its majority investor, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, which fosters entrepreneurship and builds economically sound enterprises in the developing world. Roshan is a pioneering a business model in Afghanistan that breaks down the traditional distinctions between profit and nonprofit and between social contribution and commercial success.

With a comprehensive program aimed at changing the face of an urban slum, it's makeover time for Nizamuddin Basti, in Delhi India. Until a few years back, the urban village of Nizamuddin Basti was like any other urban slum, cluttered and chaotic with skeletal facilities for its residents. But it all changed when Aga Khan Trust for Culture came forward with a unique initiative to slowly change the face of Nizamuddin Basti. Read the full article from Spice Route Magazine here.

The foundation-stone was laid down for construction of Training and Policy Unit in Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences (GHIS) by Dr. Suraya Dalil, Minister of Public Health on Sunday. The Training and Policy Unit is a result of a partnership between GIHS, the Ministry of Public Health of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Aga Khan University programs in Afghanistan with the financial support of Agence Française de Développement.
 

As of last year, 158 teachers had graduated from the Masters program at Aga Khan University’s Institute of Educational Development, East Africa, while 1,620 had finished a certificate program. Those teachers have taught hundreds of thousands of students, and impacted millions. Read the full article from the Calgary Herald here.

Because of its remoteness, communities in Chitral are facing serious human development challenges. Maternal and infant mortality rates remain persistently high due to the ‘three delays’ i.e., delays to seek care, to reach care and to receive care. Keeping these challenges in mind, the Aga Khan Foundation, in partnership with Aga Khan Health Services and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, has been implementing their Chitral Child Survival Programme since 2008.
 

The talk on ‘ReThinking Conservation’ by Ratish Nanda, project director in the Aga Khan Development Network, which was held recently at the National Gallery of Modern Arts, was educative and insightful. It revolved around renovation and bringing back many heritage buildings and monuments of the country to its past glory.
 
Read the full article from the Deccan Herald here.

Officials from the Afghan Public Health Ministry laid the foundation stone of the public hospital in Bamyan City in Afghanistan. The Bamyan Provincial Hospital is the first medical center in the province, said the head of Aga Khan Foundation’s Health Development Network. The hospital is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency through the health services of Aga Khan Foundation.
 
Read the full article from Wadsam here.