Mountain Girls Education Development Program

Asian Development Bank and Aga Khan Development Network Strengthen Partnership

2008-01-31T10:47:00.000+05:00

His Highness Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), today 30th January 2008 met with Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for discussions on joint collaboration between the ADB and AKDN. The meeting preceded the signing of an agreement aimed at expanding the partnership between the two institutions.
“A strengthened partnership between ADB and the Aga Khan Development Network provides an effective channel for supporting inclusive development in the region, especially for the benefit of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society,” said Mr. Kuroda.
The Aga Khan’s younger brother, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, who signed the agreement on the Aga Khan’s behalf, thanked the ADB for its long-standing cooperation and lauded the Bank’s efforts to adopt a new long-term strategy this year in the face of growing challenges and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Prince Amyn Aga Khan expressed confidence that the agreement will enable an intensification of the collaboration between the two institutions, thereby helping to transform the lives of many.
He added that the agreement is “an expression of our shared commitment to ensure that marginalized and impoverished areas of South and Central Asia receive the attention and support needed to alleviate poverty and to create stability in cross border areas, by connecting isolated communities, developing markets, incomes, and employment, and fostering an enabling environment.”
The joint ADB/AKDN agreement stresses the need “to find ways to undertake investments to connect the poor to the opportunities of growth and to connect services to the poor emanating from national and regional growth benefits.”
The ADB and the AKDN collaborate across multiple sectors in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India, and Pakistan. The agreement signed today reinforces the need for cooperation in sectors such as infrastructure, economic development, and human capacity building. It expresses the joint commitment of both institutions to local and regional ownership of development policies and programmes, long-term approaches to sustainable development, and investments which connect the poor to growth opportunities. Amongst the new areas for potential partnership are investments in higher education, including with the Aga Khan University and the University of Central Asia.
Notes:
ADB, a major development institution in the Asia and Pacific region, seeks to foster economic growth, good governance, human resource development, and the reduction of poverty for the benefit of its developing member countries.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies working to empower communities and individuals to improve living conditions and opportunities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. The Network’s nine development agencies focus on social, cultural and economic development for all citizens, regardless of gender, origin or religion. The AKDN’s underlying ethic is compassion for the vulnerable in society. Its annual budget for social development is in excess of US$300million.

For more information please contact:

Jason RushMedia RelationsAsian Development BankTel: (632) 632-4444http://www.adb.org/
Aly NazeraliEuropean Representative and CEOAKDN3 Cromwell GardensLondon SW7 2HBTel: +442075916800E-mail: aly.nazerali@akdn.org

http://www.ismaili.us/

Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph Establishes Muslim University in Pakistan

2008-01-28T17:43:00.000+05:00

Aga Khan Muslim University: His Highness Aga Khan is establishing a Muslim University with a total cost of US $ 500 million, the president of Aga Khan Council, Iqbal Waljee, said in Karachi on Thursday, 24 January 2008.. He said 1,000 acres of land has been acquired for the purpose on Super Highway in Karachi. The Aga Khan will inaugurate the ground breaking shortly, he said adding that acadamic activity will start from 2011. Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Imamat Caliphate of Aga Khan is being marked in Pakistan with high profile programmes including lecture series by Karen Armstrong on intellectual traditions in Islam.

People of Pakistan Endorse Confidence In The Leadeship of President Musharraf

2008-01-01T15:10:00.000+05:00

And as Pakistan is going through anxious moments, Fatimid Heritage Foundation, Geneva Peace Development Centre and Mountain Girls Education Development Program have endorsed full confidence in the leadership of Excellency President Musharraf. We believe President Musharraf has been historically delivering his best, both for Pakistan and world community so to speak about civil society and democracy, women emancipation and good governance, theological and political consensus, freedom of expression and media support, independence of judiciary, indigenous rule of people and global peace.

http://ismaili.us/

Fatimid Heritage Foundation, Geneva Peace Development Centre and Mountain Girls Education Development Program have endorsed Hillary for President

2007-12-19T15:41:00.000+05:00

Fatimid Heritage Foundation, Geneva Peace Development Centre and Mountain Girls Education Development Program have endorsed Hillary. We believe Hillary Rodham Clinton can create history for both America and our common humanity, so to speak about civil society and democracy, women emancipation and good governance, development and global peace.It's one thing to have good intentions, another thing altogether to change the reality of people's lives. Hillary has been changing people's lives for as long as I've known her. She did it in Arkansas when she made major improvements to our schools. She did it in the aftermath of September 11, when she helped first responders get the medical care they needed. She's done it in the U.S. Senate, where she has worked to make sure we fulfill our promises to our troops, veterans, and their families.

She has never let setbacks stop her. When our health care reforms didn't pass in the 90's, she rolled up her sleeves and got right back to work on the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures six million kids in America today.That's Hillary, the best combination of heart and mind, of leadership ability and feel for the problems of other people I've ever known.

Hillary is also our best candidate for one reason: because she would make the best president. She's got great plans for universal health care, good jobs, access to college, ending the war in Iraq, and restoring America's position in the world; and she's been tested in the kind of campaign they always run.

Now Hillary needs your help as 2007 comes to a close. Hillary needs her supporters to make it over the top. Will you make a contribution for Hillary today? Make a contribution and help Hillary today. You know, even if I weren't an American I would still be enthusiastically supporting her. Her experience, her compassion, her philanthropy, and her great ideas for the future make her the right candidate. It's time for a new beginning, led by someone who has spent her life making a difference for others. America is ready to change.If you want to know the kind of changes she'll make for you, you only have to look at what she's already accomplished for the humanity and America for 35 years.

Let's help Hillary show her strength at this critical moment, please help put our campaign over the top. Contribute today to help Hillary show her strength. Thank you so much for all you do to help Hillary, so she can do what she does best: get to work and help America and our common humanity. The Hillary I Know.

Anwar Ali Merchant

For and on behalf of
Fatimid Heritage Foundation
Geneva Peace Development Centre
Mountain Girls Education Development Program

http://www.ismaili.us/

Happy Birth Day To His Highness Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph 13 December 2007

2007-12-10T17:47:00.000+05:00

The Ummah, Fatimid Heritage Foundation, Geneva Peace Development Centre, Mountain Girls Education Development Program and http://www.ismaili.us/ extend most affectionate greetings to wish His Highness Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, many happy returns of the day on occasion of his auspicious Birth Day on 13 December 2007.
His Highness Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam Caliph is the direct lineal descendant of Prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law, Aly, the first Imam-Caliph, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. Aga Khan is the rope of love, wisdom and unity among interpretations of the Faith, and also bridge of confidence between West and Muslims. This year, the world is celebrating Golden Jubilee of the Imamat Caliphate of His Highness the Aga Khan.
Posted by Fatimid Heritage Foundation at 5:30 PM
Labels: Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, Happy Birth Day to Aga Khan

EMPOWERING WOMEN CONDITION FOR BUILDING PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS SOCIETIES

2007-11-19T16:23:00.000+05:00

The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in partnership with The White House Project, the Council of Women World Leaders and the Women Leaders Intercultural Forum launched the International Women Leaders Global Security Initiative in October 2006. This initiative, which will run through June 2008, aims to bring the perspectives and voices of global women leaders to the international discourse on security. As part of the initiative, the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit was held November 15-17, 2007 in New York City, New York.
The White House Project facilitated the largest gathering of women world leaders addressing issues of global security ever held in the United States. This truly significant initiative brought together current and former women heads of state and government and more than 70 other high-level women leaders from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America.
Empowering women is the condition for building peaceful, prosperous, societies said Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro at the New York Summit. Giving her remarks she said:
"I am honoured to be with you for this important gathering of singularly accomplished women. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help frame the connection between women and global security.
The United Nations community is coming to understand this connection more and more profoundly. We know that achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only a goal in itself. It is also a condition for building healthier, better educated, more peaceful and more prosperous societies.
Study after study has shown us that, when women are fully empowered and engaged, all of society benefits. Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenges confronting our world -- from conflict resolution and peacebuilding to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other Millennium Development Goals.
At the 2005 World Summit held at the United Nations, leaders declared that gender equality and human rights for all are essential to advancing development, peace and security.Five years before that, the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.
The resolution was a landmark on many fronts. It highlighted the increasing, disproportionate and unconscionable toll that modern conflict is taking on women and girls. It called for special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence during conflict. It underlined the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for war crimes relating to violence against women and girls. And it emphasized the importance of women’s full and equal participation in all efforts for peace and security -- before, during and after conflict.
We have made some progress in translating those principles into action -- both in conflict-affected societies and in the international community.
More and more, women participate in mediating and negotiating peace, in searching for justice, in fostering reconciliation, in supporting disarmament and demobilization, and in shaping development policies and rebuilding institutions.
More and more, the Security Council ensures that peace processes empower women and advance gender equality.
More and more, United Nations entities work closely and actively with Governments and women’s organizations, including through the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on implementation of resolution 1325.
But there is much more to do. On the implementation of resolution 1325, more countries in conflict or post-conflict need to establish their own national action plans. We in the United Nations system need to work better with Governments to establish truly joint programmes, driven by national priorities. We need to work better as a team, so as to give countries access to a common entry point. And we need to appoint more women in leadership positions, at Headquarters and in our peace operations around the world.
More generally, while we have in place global goals and commitments on women’s empowerment, we still have far to go in implementing them fully -- from school enrolment to women’s economic independence and representation in decision-making bodies.
In almost all countries, women continue to be underrepresented in decision-making positions. Women’s work continues to be undervalued, underpaid, or not paid at all. Out of more than 100 million children who are not in school, the majority are girls. Out of more than 800 million adults who cannot read, the majority are women. And violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture.
Changing all this requires all of us -- women and men -- to work for enduring change in values and attitudes. It means working in partnership -- Governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector. It means men assuming their responsibility. It means ensuring that women and girls enjoy their full rights, and take up their rightful place in society.It means moving forward on several fronts at once:-- Ensuring that men take on a greater role in household and family care;-- Challenging traditions and customs, stereotypes and harmful practices, that stand in the way of women and girls;-- Ensuring that women have access to education and health care, property and land;-- Investing in infrastructure to make it easier for women and girls to go about the daily business of obtaining safe drinking water and food;-- Integrating gender issues into the follow-up to United Nations resolutions and decisions -- including the work of recently established bodies such as the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council.
Violence against women has reached hideous and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict. Together, all of us need to strengthen our collective and individual response to it. This is essential if we are to reverse the damage done by conflict, and build more inclusive, accountable and cohesive societies, underpinned by viable democratic institutions.
Earlier this year, the Secretary-General urged the Security Council to establish a mechanism dedicated to monitoring violence against women and girls, within the framework of resolution 1325.
The Secretary-General has also encouraged Member States to actively consider proposals to strengthen the United Nations gender architecture, as presented by the High-Level Panel on United Nations System-Wide Coherence.
The Secretary-General and I believe we could significantly advance our cause by replacing several current structures with one dynamic United Nations entity. Such a new body should be able to call on all of the United Nations system’s resources in the work to empower women and realize gender equality worldwide. It should mobilize forces of change at the global level, and inspire enhanced results at the country level.
And it should have mechanisms for drawing on the expertise and experience of women leaders such as all of you. You have so much to contribute –- in leading by example, in raising awareness, in identifying women candidates for leadership positions and in helping us to be bold in our thinking. With your resources, your vision and your wisdom, you are all wonderfully placed to give life to the theme of this Summit -- enhancing the effectiveness of women’s leadership on global security.
I thank every one of you for your commitment, and I look forward to working in partnership with you in the years ahead."
For more information visit
WomenandGlobalSecurity.org http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/
Anwar Merchant is a Government of Canada On-Line Research Panel member.

University of Central Asia

2007-11-18T11:48:00.000+05:00

About the University of Central Asia (UCA)

The fall of the Soviet Union brought with it both the withdrawal of much-needed resources invested in education in Central Asia, and new opportunities to create innovative institutions that could respond to the needs of communities in the region.
In 1994, President Rakhmonov of Tajikistan and His Highness the Aga Khan conceived the idea of a new university designed to address the unique educational, economic and cultural needs of mountain communities. In December 1995, an international Commission was established to study the idea and come up with relevant recommendations. The Commission on the Establishment of an International Institution of Higher Education was made up of fourteen distinguished academics, advocates and programme administrators from around the region and the world. It was supported by an additional nineteen experts who made up various sub-committees to study curricula, planning, finances, facilities development and recruitment. The Commission and its Sub-Committees met thirteen times over eighteen months, made frequent visits to the region and commissioned or received 78 papers. In 1998, the Commission endorsed the idea of a regional university to promote sustainable economic and social development within mountain communities. It included the recommendation that three main academic programmes be developed - continuing education, undergraduate and graduate programmes - and also included several recommendations regarding teaching and learning approaches, facilities and technology and student and faculty recruitment. These recommendations created the foundation for the planning of UCA. UCA is CreatedUCA was founded in 2000 by the governments of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, and His Highness the Aga Khan. It is the world’s first internationally chartered institution of higher education. The International Treaty and Charter establishing this secular and private University was signed by His Highness the Aga Khan and the Presidents of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, ratified by the respective parliaments and registered with the United Nations. The Presidents are the Patrons and His Highness the Aga Khan is the Founding Patron and Chancellor of UCA. UCA is a private, independent, self-governing institution which will be governed by an independent Board of Trustees and led by a Rector. It will have three campuses of equal size and stature in each of the founding countries. Currently, the Director General of UCA is in charge of operations and planning at the Central Administration office in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.VisionUCA was created to offer an internationally recognized standard of higher education in Central Asia and create knowledgeable, skilled and creative graduates who will contribute leadership, ideas and innovations to the transitioning economies and communities of the region.Mission & ObjectivesThe mission of UCA is to promote the socio-economic development of Central Asia’s mountain societies, while at the same time helping the diverse peoples of the region to preserve and draw upon their rich cultural traditions and heritages as assets for the future.
It will do this through:
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The development of three world-class residential campuses and facilities in remote mountain communities of Central Asia;
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The preparation of new kinds of experts in key fields of development that respond to local, national and regional needs;
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The education of a new generation prepared for leadership roles;
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The renewal and revitalization of skills of existing professionals in diverse fields; and
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The provision of practical training to youth and adults.
FocusWith the understanding that education is central to development, UCA programmes are geared towards addressing key social and economic issues facing the region and particularly, mountain communities.To reach the broadest spectrum of learners possible, UCA will offer a range of internationally recognized academic programmes, including undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree courses, non-degree preparatory courses for incoming degree candidates, and vocational, professional development and distance education courses for students and professionals beyond the three UCA campuses.ValuesUCA operates within a framework of values that espouses academic excellence, individual rights and security, responsibility to community and public service, and ethical and transparent operations of government and business.
Why have another University in this Region?There are many universities in Central Asia. However:
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There are none that focus specifically on mountain communities, their traditions, cultures, and economic development needs. UCA does.
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There are no regional institutions of higher learning that encourage the exchange of information and ideas across borders; the mobility of the best and brightest minds throughout the region; and the study of local economic and cultural issues, while being committed to the development of the region as a whole. UCA is specifically designed to do so.
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Other Central Asian universities lack the capacity to conduct the full range of original research needed to close the knowledge gap in the region and bring new data to solve chronic problems. UCA will establish a rigorous research programme in all of its schools and activities.
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There is an urgent need for investments in rigorous and creative educational opportunity and ways to celebrate and preserve valuable traditions and cultures in mountain regions. UCA will address this need.
Challenges and Opportunities:

The Central Asian ContextTransitioning Economies: Mountain regions and transitioning economies face considerable challenges. The Soviet economic system directed economies in the republics towards interdependence on suppliers and markets within the Soviet Union. Today, post-Soviet Central Asian communities often find themselves poorly equipped to engage in the global economy. Communities within the region face profound poverty, isolation, shortages of capital and business skills, and a deteriorating physical and socio-educational infrastructure. There is an urgent need for educational programmes to prepare Central Asian students for the critical thinking, innovative approaches, rigorous international standards, and fast-changing information and technologies required for these transitioning economies to be competitive in the broader global economy.Neglected Cultures & Communities: Seventy years of russification in the region has made it difficult to revive or preserve some cultural practices and traditions that were neglected or altered during Soviet times. Emigration from these isolated mountain regions after the post-Soviet economic collapse is compounding the problem of creating the next generation of caretakers for these cultures and communities. There is a need to revive and preserve these valuable traditions and cultures before they - and the communities that practice them - are lost forever.Unique Resources: UCA recognizes mountain regions as a source of opportunity. They provide most of the world’s fresh water and have vast hydropower reserves; possess much of the world’s mineral wealth; have immense potential for agriculture and tourism; and play an important role in preserving the planet’s biodiversity. Above all, mountain regions are home to vigorous and capable men and women who are the bearers of diverse and rich cultures.The challenges mountain communities in Central Asia face are not unique. They exist in mountain regions across the world, including the Himalayas, the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Atlas and the Andes regions. In developing resources to better understand and address these challenges, UCA will contribute to the study and preservation of mountain cultures around the world.An Unprecedented Endeavor: UCA will provide the people of Central Asia, particularly in mountain regions, with international, regional and local resources for them to address their own economic and cultural challenges. It will provide opportunities to generate income and create jobs, and develop skills and leadership to enable communities to participate fully in the global community. It will also help them preserve and benefit from the environment of which they are the guardians. All these changes will bring benefits that extend far beyond specific communities to societies as a whole.UCA will link one of the world’s most isolated areas with the global intellectual community to provide student-centered, innovative teaching and learning methods, and encourage critical thinking and leadership in its graduates. UCA will also provide unprecedented opportunities for research, dialogue and inquiry on the economic and social development of Central Asia.In the tradition of the ancient Silk Road that crossed Central Asia, UCA will create important dialogue across cultures and effective information highways to bring the latest academic pedagogies and technologies to Central Asia, while conveying the rich and diverse cultures and traditions of Central Asia to the rest of the world.

The Role of His Highness the Aga KhanThe Founding Patron and Chancellor of UCA, His Highness the Aga Khan, a direct lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali bin Abu Talib, the Prophet’s cousin, is the 49th hereditary Imam Caliph of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community. The Ismailis are a culturally diverse community spread across the globe, including South and Central Asia, China, the Middle East, Iran, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe and North America.A statesman and philanthropist, His Highness the Aga Khan represents a centuries-old tradition of leadership associated with his office to encourage human development, through individual self-fulfillment, as the key to social harmony and progress. He is the founder of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, non-denominational development agencies that addresses a range of development issues including health, education, architecture, rural development and the promotion of civil society and private sector initiatives. The AKDN’s agencies collaborate in working towards a common goal - building institutions and programmes that respond to the dynamic challenges of social, economic and cultural change. Active in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, the Network’s institutions work for the common good of all citizens, regardless of origin, gender or religion. UCA is an active member in this network.The Aga Khan is also the founder and Chancellor of The Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, the first private university in the country. Founded in 1983, The Aga Khan University is now a thriving academic and training institution with a range of facilities and programmes, including a University hospital, Medical College, School of Nursing, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, and Institute for Educational Development.

ismili.us Dr. Anuradha

USAID office of poverty reduction

2007-11-12T12:07:00.000+05:00

Poverty Analysis and Social Safety Net:

As part of the United States Government’s contribution to the global poverty reduction program envisioned in the Millennium Development Goals, and advanced at successive World Summits on Social Development, USAID sponsors programs and activities designed to help poor people improve and protect their assets. It also works to identify policy interventions that will foster an environment where the poor can convert their assets to capital with minimum risk.
USAID sponsors research on pro-poor economic growth and the impact of informal economies on poor people:
Pro-poor economic growth research examines the complex relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction. The findings of this research will enlighten the public discourse on poverty, deepening the dialogue between government and civil society.
The work of leading researchers who are examining the effects of informal economies on the poor enables assessments of their prospects for escaping poverty. These researchers’ findings make a compelling case for an inclusive property system that recognizes and protects the assets of the poor.
Other work in this area explores the roles of social safety nets in the context of protecting basic livelihoods through risk management. Of particular interest are social safety nets comprised of public interventions that empower individuals, firms, households and communities to build and protect assets through risk management strategies. Viable social safety nets can reduce transitory poverty, prevent poor people from falling into deeper poverty and provide a foundation for them to escape poverty.

Courtesy: Carmen Villegas Caballero

Notes:

Fatimid Heritage Foundation supports heritage, education and peace activities to enhance knowledge, interfaith harmony and global pluralism. The FATIMID works to promote a more secure, equitable and prosperous world in conformity with the vision of His Highness Aga Khan. It is an expression of love and devotion Ismaili Muslims have for Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, 49th direct lineal descendant of Prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law, Aly, the first Imam-Caliph, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. Aga Khan is the rope of love, wisdom and unity among interpretations of the Faith, and also bridge of confidence between West and Muslims. This year, the world is celebrating Golden Jubilee of the Imamat Caliphate of His Highness the Aga Khan. Year 2007 is also the Diamond Jubilee of the creation of Pakistan.Geneva Peace Development Centre (Geneva Peace) and Mountain Girls Education Development Program (MGEDP) are other development initiatives of The FATIMID. Geneva Peace is an international non-profit initiative working to promote theological and political consensus between West and Muslims, so as to enhance friendship and peace globally. The name is derived of admiration for Geneva, the city of 44 Nobel Prizes. A centre of excellence and decision-making in multiple domains, Geneva has become the principal forum of world negotiation, and a natural home to intense diplomatic and networking activity, due to the numerous International Organizations and NGOs located in the Lake Geneva area. MGEDP is a non-profit educational initiative co-founded by Anwar Merchant, Nazlin Anwar, Aziz and Shirin. Intellectual gender leadership of exceptional merit is the best motivation for future development of communities, and that mountain regions are too engulfed by poverty and hazards to develop their talented young girls as community leaders, led the family to found proposal for a network of catalytic centres of educational excellence around the mountain regions, known as the Mountain Girls Academies.The FATIMID is a Cooperating Organization with Development Gateway. Join DG communities here.

MGEDP To Create Integrated Network of Mountain Girls Academies

2007-10-27T20:14:00.000+05:00

Mountain Girls Education Development Program (MGEDP) is an international non-profit educational initiative co-founded by Anwar Merchant, Nazlin Anwar, Aziz and Shirin. Intellectual gender leadership of exceptional merit is the best motivation for future development of communities, and that mountain regions are too engulfed by poverty and hazards to develop their talented young girls as community leaders, led the family to found proposal for a network of catalytic centres of educational excellence around the mountain regions, known as the Mountain Girls Academies, an expression of love and devotion for His Highness Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph.

His Highness Aga Khan's Vision:
"We live in a time of rapid change - change that is often unpredictable and not always positive. My experience with development, as an observer and a practitioner, has led me to the conclusion that the best way to manage change, whether positive or negative, is to prepare for it and that there is no greater form of preparation for change than investments in education.These investments must focus, of course, on teachers of the highest quality - teachers who are creative and committed to their own life-long learning and self-improvement. It also means investments in facilities that provide an environment conducive to the less tangible but equally important elements of an education - self-esteem, leadership, tolerance, ethical judgment and moral reasoning.
Education must also make the case for a pluralistic tradition in which other views, ethnicities, religions and perspectives are valued not only because that is just and good, but also because pluralism is the climate best suited for creativity, curiosity and inquiry to thrive. It must also stimulate students to consider a variety of perspectives on some of the fundamental questions posed by the human condition: “What is truth?” “What is reality?” and “What are my duties to my fellow man, to my country and to God?” At the same time, education must reinforce thefoundations of identity in such a way as to reinvigorate and strengthen them so that they can withstand the shock of change.
What students know is therefore no longer the most important measure of an education. The true test is the ability of students and graduates to engage with what they do not know and to work out a solution. They must also be able to reach conclusions that constitute the basis for informed judgements. The ability to make judgements that are grounded in solid information and employ careful analysis, should be one of the most important goals for any educational endeavour. As students develop this capability, they can begin to grapple with the most important and difficult step: to learn to place such judgements in anethical framework.
For all these reasons, there is no better investment that individuals, parents and the nation can make than an investment in education of the highest possible quality. Such investments are reflected and endure, in the formation of the kind of social conscience that our world so desperately needs."

To be located in the rugged terrains, Mountain Girls Academies will be an integrated network of 7 residential schools offering girls an international standard of education from pre-primary to secondary levels with a rigorous academic and leadership experience. The Academies will select students of promise, good character and serious intent, regardless of a family’s faith or ability to pay. The Academies will identify and develop teachers of the highest quality who are committed to the all-round development of young girls and to their own professional growth as teachers. The Academies are committed to excellence in every way, not least in the creation of spacious and attractive campuses that provide rich opportunities for students and teachers to interact.

The academic programme is intended to foster an ethical and public-minded approach. It is designed to enhance academic excellence of students, their sense of civic responsibility, their understanding of global issues, and their analytical and study skills. The programme reflects an understanding of and great sensitivity to the local languages, history, cultures and environment.

“An education must equip students with the tools that enable them to adapt and thrive in a world characterized by change,” His Highness the Aga Khan has said. “In such an environment, technical proficiency is not enough. Education that prepares children for life must go beyond fundamental skills to stimulate creativity, intellectual curiosity and honest inquiry. Advancement and development, both personal and societal is dependant on these elements. Innovation and progress arise from the ability to approach a challenge in a new way and offer a solution.”

Mountain Girls Academies shall be built on the framework of the globally recognized Aga Khan Education Service (AKES) , renowned for preparing students for admission to the best universities in their own countries and abroad. Enhanced by academic, co-curricular activities, and opportunities for international study unique to the Academies, this educational programme will play an important part in fulfilling the vision and hope of His Highness the Aga Khan, that these schools must stimulate creativity and intellectual curiosity so that students can adapt and thrive in a world of rapid change, make informed judgments on life’s daily challenges, and place those judgments in an ethical framework.

Every aspect of the school’s environment and curriculum will influence these values. Students will benefit from the experience of a pluralistic learning community, enabling them to embrace diversity and become true citizens of the world, generous and tolerant towards other cultures and traditions. The Academies will engrain the qualities of meritocracy and develop ethical leaders who will go on to build and lead the institutions of civil society in Pakistan and across the world.

This year, the world is celebrating Golden Jubilee of the Imamat Caliphate of Prince Karim al-Hussaini Aga Khan (since1957) . The 49th Fatimid Imam Caliph, His Highness Aga Khan is the direct lineal descendant of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) through his cousin and son-in- Aly, the first Imam Caliph, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. Prince Aga Khan is the rope of love, wisdom and unity among interpretations of the Faith, and bridge of confidence between West and Muslims.

Fatimid Heritage Foundation (The FATIMID), Geneva Peace Development Centre (Geneva Peace) and Mountain Girls Education Development Program (MGEDP) support educational development activities to enhance knowledge, inter faith harmony, peace and global pluralism. It works to promote a more secure, equitable and prosperous world in accordance with the vision of His Highness Aga Khan.