The Aga Khan Trust for Culture 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 and the 2020 Award for Excellence.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many women across India were negatively impacted, especially when it came to their menstrual hygiene. These women faced massive shortages of sanitary napkins, forcing them to resort to using unhygienic and unsafe methods of menstrual hygiene, such as using dirty cloths and ash instead. To help some of these communities in India, Project Bindu was launched by students at the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad to produce and distribute sanitary napkin kits.
In line with the vision of reviving heritage monuments in India, the InterGlobe Foundation and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) announced the completion of restoration work on Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan’s tomb in the Nizamuddin area, which will open for public from 17 December.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India and the InterGlobe Foundation, completed the conservation of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan’s Mausoleum in Delhi, India, on 17 December 2020.
The innovative revitalisation of the Lai Cho Wo Rural Cultural Landscape in Hong Kong, China and the transformative management of the historic Sunder Nursery of New Delhi, Mumbai have received the newly introduced Special Recognition for Sustainable Development, a UNESCO award.
In India, early 19th century paintings and photographs of Qutb Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad show the monuments in open splendour surrounded by gardens. The State government and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture are working on the landscape to restore the historic character of the necropolis.
The lockdowns of 2020 triggered a rise in online book clubs, as readers formed active communities to connect virtually. They have also encouraged young readers, who are discovering classics, hand in hand with contemporary bestsellers.
In 2014, fresh colossal conservation efforts of the Abdur Rahim Khan-E-Khana mausoleum were initiated by Aga Khan Trust for Culture as part of its Nizamuddin area Urban Renewal Initiative. The project is on the verge of completion and soon, it will be open to general visitors.
The Aga Khan Foundation supports 21,000 volunteer or community health/nutrition workers.