Built between the early 8th century and the first half of the 9th century, the Noh Gunbad Mosque is believed to be the oldest and most important early Islamic-era building in Afghanistan. It stands out as an early example of an innovative style for mosques, influenced by pre-existing Irano-Sassanid patterns.
Compassion for those less fortunate is central to AKDN’s ethics. It can take the form of donations of material wealth, but it can also be gifts of time, knowledge, expertise and skills.
The British embassy in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has launched a $6.7m project called “ACCESS” to improve the delivery of services to Afghan citizens in the country. The project is expected to be implemented in at least six provinces of the country. The project will cover areas such as training, health, power supply, education and water supply. The initiative will help over a million Afghans in six provinces to benefit from the programme.
Deputy Minister of Finance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Naheed Sorabi, and Dr. Bohdan Krawchenko, Dean of the Graduate School of Development at UCA, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, stating that by 2020 a total of 40 employees of the Afghan Government are expected to receive an Executive Masters in Economic Policy from UCA’s Institute of Public Policy and Administration. The programme is designed to build a strong foundation in economic theory and its applications, quantitative methods, and basic tools of management analysis.
Babur’s Garden (Bagh-e Babur) provided a much needed green space of beauty in the face of so much destruction. Rehabilitation of the 16th century Garden, where the first Mughal Emperor Babur is buried, not only re-establishes the historic character of the site, but also brings to life the array of monuments within its bounds, providing spaces for leisure, recreation, meetings and cultural events.
The Aga Khan Education Services employ 3,000+ teachers across 10 countries
On 19 October, a soccer game between the De Maiwand Atalan soccer club from the Kandahar province and the defending champion De Spin Ghar Bazan team from Nangahar provincetook place for this year’s title in the Afghan Premiere League. The lights beamed on inside the Afghan Football Federation soccer stadium and 5,000 people, drawn to a spectacle unheard of for nearly four decades, came out to see. The event is part of a campaign to reintroduce a sense of normalcy into Afghan culture led by the Dubai-based Moby Media Group, which, with the Roshan telecommunications company, created the Afghan Premiere League in 2012.
The Roshan telecommunication company in Afghanistan announced on 9 October that it is offering free access to Wikipedia to all its customers across Afghanistan in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation. This partnership, the first of its kind in Afghanistan, allows all of Roshan’s customers to access Wikipedia on their mobile phones, search for content and get information without incurring mobile data cost for a year. Altaf Ladak, deputy CEO of Roshan said the partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation expanded the frontier of access to information and knowledge, especially for Afghanistan’s youth who make up almost two thirds of the population.
On 27 September, the Committee for the European Microfinance Award 2017 on “Microfinance for Housing” chose the three finalists who will go on to compete for the €100,000 prize: The First MicroFinance Bank Afghanistan, Mibanco of Peru, and Cooperative Tosepantomin of Mexico. This year, the award highlights the role of microfinance in supporting access to better quality residential housing for vulnerable, low income and financially excluded groups with no or limited access to housing finance in the mainstream sector.
The Aga Khan Development Network is largely an implementing partner. It actively seeks to co- operate with like-minded institutions in the design, implementation and funding of innovative development projects. Its agencies need and welcome institutions and individuals throughout the world as partners. AKDN also works closely with local, state and national governments in each country in which it is active.