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

Development agencies for the Aga Khan recently announced details, which will include a pair of buildings on a 17-acre suburban site: a religious and community center by Correa and a new Islamic art museum by Maki.

A group of Ismaili Muslims expects to begin construction of a 30,432-square-foot house of worship and center on Shermer Road north of Golf Road by spring of 2007.

WFP and UNHCR, along with volunteers from the Aga Khan Foundation and the Syrian Red Crescent Society, are working around-the-clock at the main border crossings.

According to the Managing Director of Serena Hotels, Mr Mahmud Jan Mohamed, the Serena hotel in Uganda will open for public use at the end of this month but will await the official opening by President Yoweri Museveni and His Highness the Aga Khan at the end of the year.

The First MicroFinanceBank of Pakistan and the First Micro Finance Bank of Afghanistan, both AKAM institutions, have received the top award for achieving the highest standards of financial disclosure. The Award criteria draw from the disclosure requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards as well as industry-specific CGAP disclosure guidelines.

President José Manuel Barroso of the European Commission and His Highness the Aga Khan, Founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), today signed a Joint Declaration.

A Collaboration Agreement was signed by the director of the National Museum of Mali, Samuel Sidibé, and the director general of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), Luis Monreal. The agreement, signed in the presence of His Excellency Cheik Oumar Sissoko, Minister of Culture for Mali, aims to provide the Museum with a new information technology system, as well as improving the conservation facilities of its collections.

His Highness the Aga Khan expressed hope that pluralism can prevail in the Islamic world, in addition to tolerance and pluralism, linguistic pluralism and pluralism in the interpretation of faith.

Kigali, Rwanda: According to Robert Mukombozi of the New Times in Kigali, the Rwandese goverment has finally agreed to lease for 30 years the five stars Kigali Hotel Intercontinental and Kivu Sun to Serena Group of Hotels. The final leasing contract is to be signed very soon.

The Aga Khan Foundation, which is often involved in the restoration of historic sites in the Middle East, funded the creation of the Azhar Park. What was once a garbage site has been reinvented as communal mainstay.

The announcement was made today by Prince Amyn Aga Khan, brother of His Highness, at an international donor conference, convened by the Government of Pakistan, and attended by President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and high level delegations from multilateral agencies and more than 56 countries.

Twenty-one years later, Al Azhar Park has risen

Approximately 3,500 people participated in the Los Angeles Partnership Walk today at the Rose Bowl to show their support for international cooperation and for ending poverty around the world.

'The AKPBSP embodies a tangible commitment to sustainability and is a more than a worthy recipient of the Alcan Prize, designed to recognize the shared interest both business and NGO's have in working together to make for a better, more sustainable world,' said Travis Engen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcan Inc.

GILGIT: At least nine Asian and African countries have replicated the model of an Aga Khan sponsored development programme in their respective countries after the said programme attained success in the Northern Areas and Chitral, says a top NGO official. 'We are privileged as the model of our programme has been replicated in nine African and Asian countries due to its success in mountainous region of Pakistan,' said Izhar Hunzai, general manager Aga Khan Rural Development Program (AKRSP) while talking to The News Thursday.

The Government of Canada today welcomed the decision by the Aga Khan Development Network to establish the Global Centre for Pluralism in Canada. The Government of Canada intends to contribute $30 million to the endowment set up by the Aga Khan Development Network for the establishment of the Centre. Located in Ottawa, the Global Centre for Pluralism will be a not-for-profit, non-governmental institution with a mission to promote pluralism as a fundamental human value and a foundation for good governance, peace and human development.

GENEVE (XINHUANET) -- Le réseau Aga Khan de développement (AKDN) a annoncé mardi à Genève le lancement d'une nouvelle génération de produits et de services financiers visant à aider les populations les plus vulnérables du monde.

The sprawling city of Cairo has congestion, pollution and 17 million people. Now it has a 74-acre park right in the heart of its historic center. Laila Stino and her husband, Maher, laid out the master plan for the park landscapes, working out which groundcover will keep a steep slope from eroding and which trees won't block out views of nearby minarets or the fortification of the Citidel.

The Aga Khan Museum would house Islamic art and artifacts and be the first of its kind in the English-speaking world. Many of the works would come from the Aga Khan's personal collection and have been in his family for centuries. But the project may not proceed unless the Bata building is torn down. The project's backers say it is impossible to take a 1960s-era office building and integrate it into an Islamic-design place of worship and culture.

Change is coming quickly to Zanzibar. Stone Town's best buildings are being restored gradually, often with aid from the Aga Khan's foundation, which pours money into Tanzania. The repainted Ismaili Dispensary is now a cultural centre. The House of Wonders was the biggest building in East Africa and had Africa's first lift when it was built in 1883 as a ceremonial centre by the third sultan. Now the national museum, it is worth visiting just for its intricate doors. Next door the Arab fort is an open forum for food and music.