Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Nairobi (The East African) : AGA KHAN Health Services, Tanzania, has started to provide high quality healthcare services to the members of the newly formed Tanzania National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in an agreement reached in Dar es Salaam last month. The move will see NHIF members receiving high standards of care from AKHS health facilities in six centres where the AKHS runs hospitals.

The Daily Nation (Nairobi). Thirteen selected projects in Mombasa yesterday benefited from a Sh4 million community relations programme launched by the Tsavo Power Company. Beneficiaries included the Bombolulu Centre for the Physically Handicapped, which received Sh488,000, Ziwani School for the Deaf and the Likoni School for the Blind (Sh468,000 each).

Since the mid-1980s, the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) had steadily expanded its development projects in the region, winning strong grassroots support. But over the last three years, the group has often been on the defensive. After several bomb threats and acts of sabotage, a powerful explosion in late 2000 prompted the AKRSP to shutter its offices here. The closing was only temporary, but it came as a blow to aid workers who thought they had made progress in overcoming years of sectarian strife.

In what something of a major coup, Toronto has landed an exciting cultural and intellectual investment

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Pervez Musharraf on Friday promulgated Aga Khan University Examination Board Ordinance 2002 to establish an examination board under government's policy to encourage public-private partnership... The ordinance said that it was desirable in the national interest to aspire to standards of excellence in the field of education, and the government considers important to offer the people of Pakistan more educational options and to improve school examinations.

Coastweek: The Aga Khan Junior Academy and The Aga Khan Kenya Secondary School had a very busy Open Day recently. The students and teachers had worked very hard to produce some truly amazing and beautiful projects and displays related to the academic work that goes on at the school. There were projects on a wide range of subjects such as Science, Literature, Geography, History, Art and French.

On the occasion of the 2001 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Robert Ivy talked with His Highness the Aga Khan about the architectural, social, and environmental issues facing Islam today. The following interview was conducted at Aiglemont, France, on August 31. Due to the events of September 11, the interview has recently been updated. An abbreviated version of this interview appears in the February, 2002 issue of RECORD.

- The Monitor - Kampala: 'The Aga Khan schools, once some of the best in Uganda, have moved to rebuild their history. The Aga Khan Educational Service (AKES) in Uganda has set aside Aug. 16-18 for 'homecoming' activities to bring together former students of its 15 schools. AKES chairman Amin Shivji said yesterday that the homecoming is meant to inspire the current students of the Aga Khan schools in Uganda, through interaction with successful alumni.'

The News, Islamabad: The Aga Khan has said that economic indicators in Pakistan look significantly better. 'My belief is that they will continue to improve,' he said while speaking on PTV programme 'News Night' late on Wednesday night.

Washington Post. For the first time in its 36 years, the Smithsonian Folklife festival will be dedicated to a single subject: an exploration of the ancient Silk Road, the trade route that linked Asia and Europe, and its influence of its cultures on American life today... The event has attracted three principal sponsors, which are also underwriting Ma's project: the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Ford Motor Co. and Siemens, the German conglomerate... The festival will spotlight about 350 artists, another record for the event.

ISLAMABAD - (Dawn) : The Aga Khan, Imam of the Ismaili Muslims, arrives here on Sunday for a short visit to Pakistan. The Aga Khan will meet with President Pervez Musharraf as well as senior government officials. During this visit, he will attend the inauguration of the First Micro-Finance Bank, sponsored by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). The Aga Khan is also expected to be present at a ceremony to formally inaugurate the Islamabad Serena Hotel, developed and operated by Tourism Promotion Services, an affiliate of the AKFED.

Times of India - : The Baltistan region

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has clarified an article that appeared in the East African Standard newspaper on Thursday, July 25, 2002 titled 'NGOs fail to account for grants.' AKF said the article that stated: It has been 'revealed that NGOs affiliated to Aga Khan Foundation Early Childhood Development Project (ECD) have failed to account for funds awarded to them,' was incorrect. The Foundation would like to inform the public that: First, there are no NGO's affiliated to AKF in Tana River District.

Dawn/Gemini News Service: Locals say an intervention by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili community, helped halt the downward spiral. The billionaire, who has been channelling aid to the region since the fall of the Soviet Union, made his help dependent on the halt of drug cultivation and trafficking. 'And we know for a fact now that none of our farmers grow poppy,' said Mirza Jahani, chief executive officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan.

11:32AM: MAPUTO, Mac 1 (SNNi/AIM) - The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) has purchased 100 per cent of the shares in Maputo's best known hotel, the Polana. the hotel is just the first step of a tourist development programme in Mozambique, which is to focus on the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Canadian-backed grassroots program in Pakistan puts village girls in school and helps women help themselves wrote Martin Regg Cohn in the Toronto Star. 'Backed by Canadian government aid, the Aga Khan Foundation helps villagers overcome formidable obstacles - natural and man-made - by bringing education and electricity to these former backwaters. Isolated by both geography and conservative local customs, women here have long borne the brunt of rural Pakistan's backwardness. The legacy of purdah - the covering up and confinement of women - has been poverty, disease and illiteracy.

The Nation/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX -- The Aga Khan Hospitals in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu will extend their laboratory services to reach surrounding areas through satellite laboratories.

New York Time. n packed, polluted and noisy New Delhi, the tranquil, sweet-scented oasis of Humayun's tomb is still remarkably empty, even desolate at times. 'For reasons I don't understand, Humayun's tomb has always been overlooked', said Tom Kessinger, general manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which funded the garden's $650,000 restoration. 'It's the insiders' best-kept secret in historical and architectural terms'. That may soon change. The restoration of the garden, itself a monumental task, will be completed by year's end.

AFT. - KABUL: Afghan girls went back to school for the first time in five years Saturday, elated and emotional at the end of the draconian ban on female education imposed by the now ousted Taliban regime. Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi led a ceremony to celebrate the start of the new school year at the capital's Amani High School. Some 500 officials and pupils attended the ceremony, including Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, the Agha Khan and UNICEF chief executive Carol Bellamy.

Kyrgyztan Daily Digest: Representatives of the International Agha-Khan Foundation visited on 1 March the mountainous Naryn Province. They chose together with the local authorities a place in the center of Naryn town to build a branch of the Agha-Khan University. The university would have its branches in the several Central Asian states. Compiled and translated by Naryn Idinov in Prague.