Youth Organize for San Francisco Walk

Saif Jivani is enthusiastic to tell people about PartnershipsInAction and the work of Aga Khan Foundation (AKF). "I don't have a job, so this is something I can do now," the 17-year-old high school senior who lives in Fremont, California tells us. Saif co-leads, with Salmaan Noorani, YouthInAction - a group started last year and made up of 15 core members who are high school students in Northern California's Bay area. The group encourages young people to participate in San Francisco Partnership Walk.

Like many of his generation, Saif spends a lot of time connecting with people virtually through Twitter and text messages. His purpose is much more than just finding out the latest gossip from school and friends: Through social media, Saif encourages others to get involved with PartnershipsInAction and to spread awareness about Aga Khan Foundation and its solutions to end global poverty.

Saif enjoys speaking face-to face, telling classmates, friends, and even strangers he meets on the streets about the need to support development programs for the most marginalized populations in Africa and Asia. He and his group have done fundraising and organized school presentations. YouthInAction aims to raise $10,000 and get 100 people to attend this year's Walk through their outreach efforts.

Talking to Saif about global poverty, it is easy to forget that he is only a high school student; he speaks with the knowledge and confidence of someone much older and wiser. "I'm very privileged," he says. "I've seen how people live in Pakistan. My life would be very different if I were born there." He believes Partnership Walk is more than a community and cultural event; it shows a commitment by people in the U.S. to empower those less privileged in Africa and Asia. By helping to improve their skills and knowledge, Aga Khan Foundation's programs are a catalyst toward them becoming more self-reliant.

Saif Jivani's commitment to raising awareness is steadfast: "I feel a need to do it. If AKF can do so much, then I should do my part. I don't mind helping"

Do you have a story to share about your involvement with Partnership Walk? Post it on our Facebook page, Tweet us @akfusa or send it by email at communications@akfusa.org.
Building Resilient Communities

This summer the United States has seen a number of natural disasters hit all parts of the country. Drought and raging fires in Texas hit record numbers. The South, Midwest and Northeast have seen floodwaters wash away many homes and livelihoods. Californians and Northeasterners felt earthquakes that jolted them from beds and office chairs. These disasters have struck during a prolonged economic downturn, intensifying the hardship many have felt the past few years. Yet throughout all of these catastrophes, Americans have shown their ability to bounce back.

In places where there is little or no safety net, people are placed in peril. When heavy rain floods Pakistan or drought dries up the Horn of Africa, people often have fewer resources to support them. This is why this year's PartnershipsInAction theme Building Resilient Communities appropriately focuses on the urgent need to strengthen poor communities' resilience to challenging environmental, economic and social changes.

The connection between human security and natural resource management is integral to Aga Khan Foundation's approach as it encourages communities to create local solutions that result in sustainable and responsible stewardship of our planet's resources.

Come to Partnership Walk in your area to learn more about how Aga Khan Foundation is building resilient communities from the flooded lands of Pakistan to the melting glaciers of Tajikistan to the drought-prone fields of Kenya and Mali.

Read more about this year's theme Building Resilient Communities here.
Earthquakes Prompt AKDN Disaster Management Initiative

Earthquakes can be devastating wherever they occur. In more seismically active parts of Central and South Asia, the devastation that these earthquakes cause is often exacerbated by a lack of proper construction and disaster preparation.

Recently, we spoke with Firoz Verjee, the Coordinator of the Disaster Risk Management Initiative (DRMI), a program of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Verjee is working to make communities in Central and South Asia better prepared for natural disasters.

"In the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake that took place in 2005, there was a reflection as to what more AKDN could be doing in seismically active areas," he told us. While earthquakes prompted AKDN to think more deeply about better preparing communities for them, the initiative in not limited to addressing earthquakes. "Earthquakes are still by far and away the single largest hazard, but we are also concerned by flash floods, dam bursts, tsunamis, landslides, and a large range of other types of hazards which tend to affect the areas that we work in," Verjee said.
Verjee explained that the DRMI focuses its work in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan and is supporting "the national implementation of disaster risk management through the development of standards and practices that will then be released across the region."

According to Verjee, the short-term goals of the DRMI include:

-Assessing seismic risk

-Building seismic safety consciousness

-Reducing structural risk

-Improving emergency response capability

In the long-term, he said that the DRMI's vision includes:

-Constructing buildings to modern building standards

-Training communities to be disaster resilient

Building resilient communities is the ultimate goal of the DRMI. Verjee said that "much of the work that we're doing is about ensuring that people feel empowered and have the ability to make shifts in the way that they live. Resilience means much more than just being able to resist, it includes a notion that these communities that are at risk of disasters have the ability to absorb and recover, and have the ability to accommodate the nature of the environments that they live."