Looking forward to 2012

Happy New Year! We hope that 2012 brings you joy and happiness. In this new year, we at Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. (AKF USA) will continue to help the most vulnerable in Africa and Asia build self-reliant and sustainable livelihoods.

Our programs, made possible with your generous donations, range from supporting women farmers in Mali feed their families to teaching Afghan communities critical techniques for reducing risk when natural disasters strike. To learn more, read the PDF of our new 2011 Program Highlights here.

We are keenly aware of the important role that early childhood and youth development have in supporting our overall global development work. With this in mind, in 2012 AKF USA's plans include expanding its early childhood programs, especially in Africa, as well as promoting access to vocational and entrepreneural skills training for youth in Egypt and Central Asia.

To support these and other programs, we look forward to holding successful PartnershipsInAction golf tournaments, walks and other events. Look for dates to this year's events in upcoming newsletters.

As you can see, AKF USA will be busy in 2012! We look forward to sharing with you stories of progress and how our work makes an impact on families and communities most in need. Look for these stories from our Foundation in upcoming Empowered newsletters and From the Field blog entries.

In addition, subscribe to our weekly AKDN In the News email (sign up here) for news about the work of other Aga Khan Development Network agencies. Lastly, we encourage you to also regularly visit our website, www.PartnershipsInAction.org.
 
US Ambassador Visits AKF-Supported School

Reading lesson at Vilwakwe.

US Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration visited one of the Aga Khan Foundation-supported schools, Vilwakwe Children Centre and School, in Mombasa on September 12, 2011. This was part of his familiarization tour of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs in Kenya.

Vilwakwe Children Centre and School is one of the 24 schools in the urban settlements of Mombasa that AKF's Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK) supports. Since October 2010, EMACK has expanded into Nairobi and Mombasa, directly benefiting over a quarter million students.

The child care center began in 2006 with only seven children. It has grown from an early childhood development (ECD) center in 2007 to a primary school with 395 pupils (217 boys, 178 girls).

The Ambassador and other visitors were delighted to see various presentations, including a reading lesson, buddy reading, story telling by a parent and a model ECD classroom presented by the Madrassa Resource Centre, another project of AKF. Members of the Girls’ Forum enthusiastically talked about the benefits they received through EMACK in partnership with Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, like making soap to sell which can buy sanitary towels for the school.

The Ambassador stated that basic education for all children is the best way of assisting future generations. “The brain never grows old, it always keeps getting better and what you are doing to the kid’s brain is a lifetime investment,” said Gration.

Read the entire story here.

The EMACK project was initiated by the Kenya Ministry of Education, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by Aga Khan Foundation and other partners to address challenges of access and quality of education for marginalized groups.
 
Intern Spotlights to be Featured in Upcoming Blogs

Did you ever wonder what it's like to work at AKF USA? Our 2011-2012 interns wondered the same thing before coming to AKF USA last year. After supporting our Washington, DC office for several months with the day-to-day tasks in event and program work, they better understand how the day-to-day tasks add up to making an impact on alleviating poverty in Africa and Asia.

In upcoming months, read our blog entries that spotlight our five interns who come from places as far away as Tajikistan and Rwanda to closer places like Michigan and North Carolina. Learn about who they are, their interests, impressions and experiences at AKF USA.

Read the first spotlight about our intern Nina Muzaffarova and her work in AKF USA's Program and Communications Departments here.