In Afghanistan, AKDN and the National Water Management Authority recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on matters related to water management and technical cooperation. According to the signed MoU, the two sides will work on the empowerment of water management, share information on flood, drought, glaciers and technical research on water resources.
On 24 November, His Highness reaffirmed his enduring commitment to a peaceful and pluralistic Afghanistan. In a statement delivered at the virtually held 2020 Afghanistan Conference, His Highness noted that as the country entered into a new period of transition, it would need the contribution of all of its people to address their common challenges: rising poverty, climate disruption, an unforgiving pandemic. "It will need all their talents to build an inclusive future with more opportunities, requiring more education, more knowledge, more private initiative. In these endeavors, AKDN is, and will remain, a steadfast partner, said His Highness, emphasizing that AKDN will maintain the breadth of its work in all sectors from education, healthcare and cultural restoration, as well as in economic development.
In Afghanistan, the AKDN has started work on renovation of an ancient minaret in the city of Herat. AKDN officials said they collected samples from the 5th minaret of Herat and will send it to Italy for research, adding that a global group of archaeologists are working on it to strengthen this minaret based on standard norms. The minaret is one of the five remaining minarets of the former Musallah complex, each of them 55 metres tall. The complex initially had 20 minarets built by Queen Gawhar Shad in 1417.
Delivered by Ms. Sheherazade Hirji, AKDN ’s Diplomatic Representative to Afghanistan
Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In a statement delivered at the virtually held 2020 Afghanistan Conference by AKDN’s Diplomatic Representative to Afghanistan Sheherazade Hirji, His Highness the Aga Khan, on behalf of the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network, today reaffirmed his enduring commitment to a peaceful and pluralistic Afghanistan.
In a statement delivered at the virtually held 2020 Afghanistan Conference by AKDN’s Diplomatic Representative to Afghanistan Sheherazade Hirji, His Highness the Aga Khan, on behalf of the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network, today reaffirmed his enduring commitment to a peaceful and pluralistic Afghanistan.
In this talk, Onno Rühl, General Manager, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, discusses the climate crisis in the world’s Third Pole and the agency's work helping communities living in these regions build resilient habitats and adapt to an ever-riskier climate.
Bala Hissar citadel site, which is a registered National Monument and the largest open space in the Kabul, will be transformed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture into a public archaeological park. The works follow a decree in 2018 by His Excellency President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and funding by the ALIPH Foundation.
All too often small towns and marginalised communities are overlooked and lack the resources or capacity for effective urban and rural planning. To address this gap, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) developed a Habitat Planning Framework, which uses participatory urban and rural planning approaches to provide long-term design solutions to improve quality of life in the communities it serves – from a neighbourhood through to the village and district scale. Building on this Framework, AKAH, together with Harvard University’s Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and Graduate School of Design is testing an innovative virtual design studio approach to remote planning in Ishkashim, Afghanistan.