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This article explores how physical remoteness influences the quality of life of people living in mountain communities in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province. Basing its analysis on data obtained from a quality of life assessment carried out in Badakhshan, the article compares how quality of life indicators differed between villages that are more remote in terms of their access to markets, services, and transport, and those that are closer to small urban economic hubs.

A delegation of the Ismaili Regional Council for Gilgit met the Chief Minister today at his office. The CM said during the meeting that a state-of-the-art Aga Khan Teaching Hospital will be established in Gilgit with the help of Aga Khan Foundation to ensure provision of health facilities for the region’s populace.

“Music of Central Asia Vol. 10: Borderlands: Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route was featured as one of the top 30 World Albums of 2012. This fascinating Folkways project is a history (or more accurately, cultural studies) lesson: P’ipa master Wu Man and Uyghur, Tajik, and Hui collaborators trace cultural connections along the storied Silk Road, illuminating points of overlap and exchange between music of China and Central Asia. But that important lesson is a gorgeous, moving collection of music.

In 1997, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture stepped into a part of Delhi that was sandwiched between a busy railway station and a large urban slum, Nizamuddin. As a microcosm of the city, the area presented a slew of challenges. Seven hundred years of continuous habitation had by now included a Muslim ghetto with no sanitation or water, a ghetto that spilled over into the most visited pilgrim site in the city — the dargah of the 14th century Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya.

The US government announced Wednesday that it will help 45,000 farmers in the fruit, vegetable, dairy, and livestock sectors to increase their profits by giving “specialized training” to improve their products and sales... “These programs will increase incomes and create jobs for farmers, said Alex Thier, Assistant to the USAID Administrator.

The Professional Development Center North, Gilgit, has imparted teaching, management and leadership training to 11,630 teachers from across Gilgit-Baltistan. The importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) is being used across the world to develop interest in education. Teachers from government, NGO-operated and private schools have benefited from the state of art training facilities available at the PDCN. The ECD program is currently being run in 124 schools across GB.

The culture of charitable giving in any society is influenced by moral, social and religious underpinnings. There are many factors that affect an underlying ethos of civic engagement, for the mobilization and organization of charitable resources to ensure the achievement of particular objectives especially in a country like Pakistan, where poverty and other social issues run rampant. Over a short period of time, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) has become a thought leader within the area of its mandate.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiev met with the head of the Aga Khan Development Network in Kyrgyzstan, Nurzhahan Mawani. The Information Policy Department of the Kyrgyz Government’s Office reports: During the meeting the sides discussed the development of cooperation and plans of the Aga Khan Development Network in 2013 to support rural producers. The Prime Minister proposed considering the possibility of extending the support to farmers in the Republic the next year.

On December 8, 2012, the United States Embassy to the Kyrgyz Republic will host a gala concert at the Kyrgyz National Opera and Ballet Theater in honor of the 20th anniversary of friendship and cooperation between the American and Kyrgyz people. The concert will feature performances by American bluegrass band Della Mae, Kyrgyz folk group Ustatshakirt, and U.S. Peace Corp volunteers.

Kenyan Prime minister Raila Odinga and His Highness the Aga Khan will today witness the signing of an agreement between the government of Kenya and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) for the rehabilitation of Nairobi City Park.The Nairobi City Park Rehabilitation Funding and Technical Assistance Agreement (RFTA), as it is officially known, clears a way for the AKTC to begin works in the park starting in 2013, a statement released yesterday said.