LONDON: UK government Minister for Climate Change held as an example a clean energy project from Pakistan as showcase of sustainable energy utility after the project won one of the world’s most prestigious green energy awards here.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan accepted the Ashden Sustainable Energy Award on behalf of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service (AKPBS) at a VIP ceremony here at the Royal Geographical Society.

Greg Barker MP praised the work of AKPBS in Pakistan for working with “vulnerable people”. He told The News there is a lot that can be learnt from the relatively simple but “innovative ways” used by the organisations to change the lives of the local people. He said the local and simple techniques were being helpful in switching to a sustainable lifestyle.

He said the UK government was “keen to support such initiatives. He said the politicians internationally have yet to come together to find solutions of energy and climate change yet the local NGOs, whether in Pakistan or elsewhere, were taking a lead in bringing people together, encouraging local communities to be part of the solution. “They are empowering people and not waiting for the solutions to be given to them to help form resource-sufficient and prosperous economies.”

Princess Zahra Aga Khan told The News that they were working to help lift thousands of families out of the vicious cycle of poverty through simple and efficient use of simple technology in high mountain areas.

She explained that the organization has nearly 70 products in building and construction programme, from smoke-free stove to, making insulated walls and water production locally as well teaching communities on the use of the new technologies. The princess said the team in Pakistan had done a fantastic work to deserve this award.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder Director of the Ashden Awards and chair of the judging panel told that the initiatives of AKPBS are exemplary because “they are bringing enterprise and solutions of environment, energy and poverty in a vulnerable and important part of Pakistan.

We are delighted by the work they do as they show it is possible to improve the lives of thousands of families and successfully tackle the major challenges of deforestation and climate change.

They are inspiring and their techniques are replicable”. The Aga Khan Planning and Building Service in Pakistan (AKPBS) was awarded £20,000 for helping families in remote mountain villages save energy and enjoy warmer and more comfortable homes by installing a range of energy-efficient products.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=53246&Cat=2&dt=6/18/2011

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  Tags:              Aga Khan project, agha khan 2011, energy award, energy award 2011  

  Posted in         Ismaili News

Families, corporate teams among those who take stroll through Stanley Park to fight poverty in developing nations

The World Partnership Walk, held under sunny skies in Stanley Park on Sunday, raised more than $2 million to help fight poverty in developing countries, organizers said.

The walk benefits global development projects supported by the Aga Khan Foundation Canada.

What began in Vancouver in 1980 as a fundraiser and celebration of giving for Vancouver’s Ismaili community has become a national event with walks in Toronto and Victoria on the same day, and walks in other Canadian cities later this month.

“What makes the walk unique,” said representative Karim Salemohammed, “is that it is underwritten by the Aga Khan foundation, and 100 per cent of all funds raised goes to projects around the world.”

Walkers, including families and corporate teams, took advantage of the sunny day to walk five kilometres through Stanley Park before joining festivities that included bhangra and other musical performances at Lumbermen’s Arch.

They also had a chance to taste some Ismaili specialties, including sugar cane juice, fresh-cut young coconut, tamarind seeds and traditional barbecue.

The Aga Kahn Foundation Canada is a non-denominational registered charity dedicated to finding solutions to global poverty through grassroots projects focusing on education, sanitation, clean water and rural economic ventures in some of the world’s poorest countries.

“The walk is really all Canadians saying we care about the world. We can do something locally and make a difference globally,” said Salemohammed.

Jameel Dawood, a volunteer at the walk’s global village tent, said what he finds most exciting about working with AKF Canada is the partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency, which meets every dollar raised with a corresponding amount of $8 or $9.

“Just $10 can educate a child in a developing country for a year,” he said.

“Most projects we support start at a grassroots level and use a sandwich approach, bringing research and development and best practices to communities at a grassroots level.”

Funds raised through the annual walk and other Aga Khan Foundation events and partnerships go to communities in countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Mozambique and Kenya.

Since 1980, the event has raised more than $60 million.

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/World+Partnership+Walk+garners+
more+than+million+world+poor/4859688/story.html#ixzz1NsiTDEUc

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The Nizamuddin Basti, the centre of Hindustani culture for centuries, will soon come alive with qawwali performances in its authentic settings. In an effort to revive qawwali traditions and bring alive its roots in the Nizammudin Basti, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is documenting and archiving qawwali traditions, and now also handpicking children from traditional qawwal families to train them to carry the tradition forward.

While preserving the dying qawwali tradition, the Trust hopes to simultaneously create spaces in the Nizamuddin Basti, like the Chaunsath Khamba, the Central Park opposite the MCD school and the Dargah, where regular performances can take place. As part of a cultural revival initiative called the ‘Aalam-e-Khusrau’, co-funded by the Ford Foundation, the Trust is facilitating public performances, discussions, research, archiving and documenting, research fellowships, scholarship programmes and multimedia exhibitions on Khusrau.

Since its beginning in the 13th-14th Century by the Sufi Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Ghiyaspur, qawwali is said to have been adapted in many situations and variations, but all of them display the distinct musical style and structure of the present-day qawwali. Amir Khusrau, the most beloved disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, supposedly created this style of music as a form of veneration.

Scholars, however, say the tradition is now dying out. Children in qawwal families are found to carry the tradition forward, but without any formal knowledge of music. To train them, AKTC is now in the process of hand-picking children from these families from the Nizamuddin Basti, Chitli Qabar in Old Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri. They will be sent to maestros in classical music for formal training.

Last year, the ‘Jashn-e-Khusrau’ programme included khanaqahi qawwali performances, poetry-reading, lectures and discussions on qawwali and Amir Khusrau, exhibitions depicting the world of Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin and the Basti area urban renewal projects, as well as heritage walks through the settlement of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.

A similar programme is being planned for 2012, when a travelling exhibition-cum-workshop will also travel to UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Jammu-Kashmir, where the AKTC is documenting and archiving the existing qawwali traditions.

The AKTC has also put forth a suggestion to the Ministry of Culture to set up an Amir Khusrau Resource Centre that can house books, manuscripts, illustrations, recordings and artifacts pertaining to Khusrau’s legacy.

The AKTC has proposed that the centre be located in the Nizamuddin area, while regular events can be organised at central locations like the India International Centre and monuments such as Chaunsath Khamba that will create an interface between performers and scholars to ensure that Khusrau’s legacy is carried on.

“Qawwali traditions initiated by Hazrat Amir Khusrau here in the Nizamuddin area in the 14th Century are as much our contribution to the world’s heritage as Humayun’s Tomb. Hopefully this programme will lead to the revival of the pure art and generate greater interest amongst the younger generation while giving the qawwals new performance venues and greater recognition,” Ratish Nanda, project director, AKTC, told Newsline.

“Nizamuddin Basti has been the cradle of Hindustani culture for 700 years and we hope to revive it through these programmes.”

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  Tags:              Aga Khan Trust for Culture, aktc, ismaili muslim, Nizamuddin Basti  

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