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His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

His Highness the Aga Khan with members of his community in Porshniev, Khorog, Tajikistan, 2008.

A 1966 portrait of His Highness the Aga Khan. Less than 10 years earlier, he had inherited the mantle of the Ismaili Imamat from his grandfather. Since then, the young Aga Khan had graduated with honours from Harvard University, distinguished himself as a competitive skier and olympian at the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, and busied himself meeting with heads of state and preparing the Ismaili community for the massive upheaval that would come with the end of colonial rule across Africa and Asia. With new investments in education, health and industry, he consolidated and built upon the legacy of his grandfather, and a year later would establish the Aga Khan Foundation in Geneva - an institutional cornerstone of what we know today as the Aga Khan Development Network.

His Highness the Aga Khan meeting the midwifery students at the Bamyan Hospital, Afghanistan, 09 November 2005. The Aga Khan Development Network is working with the Afghan Government to improve health care in the country, running a variety of training programmes for midwives and nurses in Bamyan, Faizabad and Kabul, addressing the need for local, female, qualified health professionals in rural areas.

His Highness the Aga Khan introduces the 2014 Global Centre for Pluralism (GCP) Annual Lecture, to be delivered by Antonio Guterres. The mission of the GCP is to advance respect for diversity as a new global ethic and foundation for inclusive citizenship. Ottawa, Canada, 29 May 2014.

His Highness the Aga Khan addresses members of the Ismaili community in the Bartang Valley in Tajikistan. The Ismaili community in Central Asia has for centuries lived isolated in valleys surrounding the formidable mountain ranges of the Pamirs and the Tien Shan. 
Following the establishment of formal direct contact with the Imam, these remote populations benefitted from humanitarian support and the pioneering initiatives of the Aga Khan Development Network in
partnership with the Tajik government. Photo : 25 September 1998.

His Highness the Aga Khan (centre) and Prime Minister of Mali Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani (at his left) at the 14th century Djingareyber Mosque in Timbuktu, with Mr. Abdramane ben Essayouti, the Imam of the Mosque and local dignitaries. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture initiated comprehensive conservation of the Djingereyber Mosque in Timbuktu at the end of 2006. The mosque, built in the 14th century, is the oldest earth construction building in sub-Saharan Africa. Officially listed as part of the Mali’s cultural heritage, it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Photo : 10 October 2003.

His Highness the Aga Khan at the ceremony of his installation as 49th hereditary spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 19 October 1957.

His Highness the Aga Khan meeting with South African President Nelson Mandela in Mozambique. Photo : 11 August 1998.

Crowds welcome His Highness the Aga Khan upon his arrival at Abidjan airport, where His Highness was met by Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan and other Government officials, during his official visit to Côte d&#39;Ivoire in 1998.

His Highness the Aga Khan bids farewell to local officials in Timbuktu, Mali where the Aga Khan Trust for Culture plays a critical role in the restoration of mud mosques. 24 April 2008.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets with members of the Ismaili community in Salamieh, Syria during his Golden Jubilee visit in 2008.

His Highness the Aga Khan being applauded after cutting a cake made in his honour while visiting the Paponditi Primary Health Care, Nyanza, Kenya, July 1991.

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy meets with His Highness the Aga Khan in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, D.C., 10:15am, 14 March 1961.

His Highness the Aga Khan visiting the Madrasa Resource Centre in Mombasa during his visit to Kenya (8-18 July 1991).
Since 1986, the Madrasa Resource Centre in Kenya (MRCK) has trained over 500 Madrasa community pre-school teachers and has benefited nearly 7,800 students. MRCK has trained over 675 school management committee members (47 percent women) and more than 125 community resource team members (69 percent women). As of 2007, MRCK was working with over 75 community pre-schools throughout Kenya with nearly 2,900 students enrolled (48 percent girls). The programme’s integrated curriculum has influenced national policy and practice, and has trained and supported over 2,000 pre-school teachers.

His Highness the Aga Khan receives a standing ovation at the conclusion of his address to both houses of Parliament in Ottawa, Canada, February 2014.

His Highness the Aga Khan inspecting the excavation hall at the Al-Azhar park site with landscaping engineers.
When the city of Cairo was built by the Fatimids in the 10th century, 20% was devoted to open space. But by the second half of the 20th century, it had become one of the densest metropolises in the world.
In 1984, AKDN announced its decision to finance the creation of a park for the citizens of the Egyptian capital. The only central location which was of suitable scale was the derelict Darassa site, a 30-hectare mound of rubble adjacent to the Historic City. The site posed several technical challenges. It had been a debris dump for over 500 years so a total of 1.5 million cubic metres of rubble and soil (or over 80,000 truckloads) had to be moved.
Today, the US$ 30 million project has evolved to include the restoration of 1.5 kilometres of the 12th century Ayyubid wall and socio-economic initiatives in the neighbouring Darb al-Ahmar district. The Park now attracts over two million visitors per year.

His Highness the Aga Khan departing after a visit to meet the Ismaili community and to review AKDN projects, New Delhi, India, 18 January 1983.

Runa Khan, Executive director, Friendship International (Friendship Centre project), receiving the Aga Khan Award for Architecture from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness the Aga Khan, Founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, at Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 06 November 2016. The award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture.

His Highness the Aga Khan, admiring the breath-taking view from the Baltit Fort, northern Paksitan, in conversation with Stefano Bianco, Director of Historic Cities Support Programme, part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Prince Amyn Aga Khan looks on. 1996. The conservation of the over 700 years old Baltit Fort, the pre-eminent landmark monument in Gilgit-Baltistan, and the rehabilitation of the historic core of the Karimabad village in the Hunza Valley, were the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme first major interventions, completed in 1996. These projects, as well as others in neighbouring Baltistan, have won a number of prestigious prizes, including the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation (every year between 2002 and 2013); a Time Magazine “Best of Asia”; and a British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has completed dozens of other restoration projects in Baltistan and Hunza, but the area remains a treasure trove of scores of shrines, forts, mosques and other buildings of cultural and historical significance.

His Highness the Aga Khan plays with the children at the Diamond Jubilee High School during a visit to Mumbai, India. The first Aga Khan School was founded in Mundra (Gujarat) in 1905. Since then, the number of schools and other education institutions run by AKDN agencies has risen to over 200. Photo : 1973.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets with staff of Bujagali Hydropower Plant, 2011.
Constructed at a cost of US$900 million, Bujagali has been jointly developed by Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the infrastructure and industrial development arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Sithe Global Power LLC (USA), a company majority-owned by a fund, Blackstone Capital Partners IV, L.P., managed by Blackstone on behalf of its investors, and the Government of Uganda. Bujagali, which is a clean and renewable source of generation, nearly doubled Uganda’s effective generation capacity, thereby eliminating the over 12-hour daily load-shedding that up until recently characterised Uganda’s power sector.
During the peak of construction, Bujagali Hydropower Plant employed approximately 3,000 workers, of which 2,000 of the most highly skilled continue to positively contribute to the Ugandan power sector, and also to the country’s construction industry. The plant has also led to improved community services such as clean water supply, improved education and health facilities in nearby villages, micro-credit funds to surrounding rural populations and enhanced infrastructure, including access to electricity.

His Highness the Aga Khan with (left) Stan Dewman, MD, Nation Printers &amp; publishers and (right) Vin Dumen, Production Manager, looking at the newspaper during a visit at the Nation Printers &amp; Publishers, Nairobi, Kenya, March 1981. The Sunday Nation and Daily Nation were launched in 1960 and &quot;quickly established a reputation for honesty and fair-mindedness, while shocking the colonial and settler establishment by calling for the release of the man who could become the nation&#39;s first prime minister, Jomo Kenyatta,&quot; according to Birth of a Nation, a book published on the 50th anniversary of the paper.

President Kibaki and the Aga Khan inspect newly installed cancer equipment at the Heart and Cancer Centre at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, July 2011. Patients, doctors, students and researchers at the $50-million facility will benefit from state-of-the-art medical technology.

His Highness the Aga Khan and President Emomali Rahmon welcomed by the crowd gathered for the opening ceremony of the Aga Khan Lycée in Khorog, Tajikistan, September 1998. The Lycée is one of over 200 schools operated by the Aga Khan Education Services.

His Highness the Aga Khan speaking with the staff of the Aga Khan Medical Centre, Kisumu after the foundation stone ceremony held during his Silver Jubilee visit to Kenya, October 1982.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets a group of students on the campus of the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, India, 10 April 2015. The Aga Khan Academies are a network of schools being established by His Highness the Aga Khan in countries across South and Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Described as a “technological marvel” by His Highness the Aga Khan, the new printing press works, displayed in the background, represents increased local investment and continuing strengthening of the quality of its printing even as Nation Media Group transforms into a digital company. Flanking His Highness from right to left is Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Mr. Joe Mucheru; Head of Production, Gideon Aswani; NMG Group CEO, Joe Muganda; the Governor of Machakos County, Dr. Alfred Mutua; and Chairman of NMG Board, Mr. Wilfred Kiboro - Nairobi, Kenya, 17 March 2016.

His Highness the Aga Khan at the Takht Nashini held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 19 October 1957. These ceremonies were held to celebrate his installation as the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.

His Highness the Aga Khan is presented with the 2013 North-South Prize by the President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Lisbon, Portugal, 12 June 2014.

His Highness the Aga Khan presents prizes at a Sports&#39; Tournament at the Aga Khan Gymkhana in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 November 1964.

His Highness the Aga Khan reviews a piece of Iranian art at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada. Opened in 2014, the Museum aims to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the contribution that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage.

His Highness the Aga Khan inspecting the Housing Project at Aga Khan Baug, Versova, with Governor Sadiq Ali of Maharashtra, Mumbai, India, 28 January 1978. The complex was opened during His Highness&#39; Silver Jubilee.

His Highness the Aga Khan in discussion with the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture (AKAA) in Geneva, Switzerland, 1980.

His Highness the Aga Khan at a Press Conference in Nairobi held during his Silver Jubilee visit to Kenya in 1982.

His Highness the Aga Khan with his daughter Princess Zahra and son Prince Aly Muhammad visiting the Nizamuddin Renewal Initiative in New Delhi, India, April 2015. Since 2007, the Initiative has led to over 30 monuments being conserved, almost 150 acres sensitively landscaped, over 2000 individual craftsmen employed and over 20,000 trees planted.

His Highness the Aga Khan, in the company of other Honorary Degree recipients at Brown University&#39;s Academic Procession, being applauded by Graduates lining the streets of Providence, Rhode Island, United States. His Highness was invested with the Honorary Degree Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by the University in 1996.

His Highness the Aga Khan greets the students of the University of Central Asia’s founding undergraduate class in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic, 19 October 2016. Founded in 2000, the University of Central Asia is opening campuses at high altitude sites in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic (2016) and Khorog, Tajikistan (2017), and is preparing for construction in Tekeli, Kazakhstan.

His Highness the Aga Khan with local dignitaries tours Zanzibar stone town, Tanzania. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has been active in Zanzibar since 1989, successfully completing the restoration of 11 landmark buildings (many of them on the point of collapse), upgrading housing and rehabilitating public spaces, notably Kelele Square and Forodhani Park. Photo : July 1991.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets the staff of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH) for the inauguration of the Jimmy Sayani Building in 2015. For over fifty years, AKUH has been taking care of families in East Africa. As a private, not-for-profit hospital, AKUH strives to provide access to quality healthcare to all who need it.

His Highness the Aga Khan addresses the audience during the Aga Khan University (AKU) Charter acceptance ceremony in Karachi, ¨Pakistan, 1983, one of the Silver Jubilee initiatives.

His Highness the Aga Khan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, October 2016. The AKDN is one of the largest contributors to development in Afghanistan.

His Highness the Aga Khan meeting a delegation of Muslim leaders from Nairobi during his Silver Jubilee visit to Kenya in 1982.

His Highness the Aga Khan in discussion with Ms. Aisha Al Khater, Deputy Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, on arrival for a private visit of the Museum in Doha, Qatar in 2010.

His Highness the Aga Khan, Kazakhstan&#39;s Education Minister Tuimebayev and other officials review architectural design and site development plans for the University of Central Asia (UCA), Tekeli, Kazakhstan. UCA 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 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. Photo : 30 October 2008.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets with students at the Aga Khan III school (Sultan Mohammed Shah Foundation School) at Karimabad, Pakistan in 1970.

His Highness the Aga Khan together with his son Prince Aly Muhammad, reviews plans for the restoration of the Tomb of Ibrahim Qutb Shah Hyderabad, India, 11 April 2015. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has been instrumental in restoration of cultural projects in India and around the world.

Portrait of His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims and founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), 1982.

His Highness the Aga Khan tours an innovative agricultural programme that has doubled rice yields in Madagascar&#39;s poor northern districts. The programme, established by the Aga Khan Foundation, will eventually reach 60,000 famers. Photo : 28 November 2007.

His Highness the Aga Khan addressing the audience at the inauguration of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing held on 16th February 1981.
The School of Nursing in Pakistan has the honour of being the founding academic entity of the Aga Khan University and a benchmark for nursing education in Pakistan. The school is committed to excellence in the fields of education, practice, research and administration. The school caters to students from all over Pakistan as well as from East Africa, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt. 
Since its establishment, the School has accomplished many other firsts in Pakistan. It was the first to start a two-year Post-RN Bachelor of Science in Nursing programme for diploma qualified nurses in 1988; the first to start a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1997; and the first to begin a Master of Science in Nursing programme in 2001. After the launch of midwifery programme, the School of Nursing was renamed the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

His Highness the Aga Khan and Princess Zahra, together with the Aga Khan University’s leadership team, Board of Trustees and AKDN officials, during a visit to Arusha, Tanzania where the Aga Khan University’s new Faculty of Arts and Sciences campus is to be built, marking the transformation of AKU into a liberal arts university. Photo : 06 August 2014.

His Highness the Aga Khan, accompanied by Tajikistan&#39;s President Emomali Rahmon and Afghanistan’s Vice-President Hedayat Amin Arsala waves to supporters following the inauguration of the first of a series of bridges across the Pyanj River consolidating permanent overland links between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The US$400,000 project, undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network, in collaboration with the two governments, has improved the flow of aid, commerce and trade within Central Asia. It included the construction of border posts at each end of the bridge, a link road on the Afghan side and a small marketplace on the Tajik side. Photo : 3 November 2002.

His Highness the Aga Khan on the Great Wall while in China for the Sixth International Seminar of the Second Cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1981-1983). The Award, now in its 40th year, seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspiration of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant presence. Photo: October 1981.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets with the inhabitants of the northern areas of Pakistan to discuss the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Jaglot, near Gilgit, May 1983.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher officially inaugurates the Ismaili Centre, London in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan, April 1985. The Centre was the first to be opened. Today Ismaili Centres exist in Canada, Portugal, UAE and Tajikistan. They are symbolic markers of the permanent presence and core values of Ismaili communities around the world.

His Highness the Aga Khan meets with primary school students at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa. The school is the first of a planned network of Aga Khan Academies dedicated to expanding access to education of an international standard of excellence in Asia and Africa. Photo : 13 November 2006.

His Highness the Aga Khan touring Filtisac, an economic development project of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Abidjan, Côte d&#39;Ivoire, April 2008. Several AKFED companies in West Africa manufacture and print packaging used to bring a variety of products to market, including cocoa, coffee, flour, fertilizers, cement, cotton and flowers for export.

His Highness the Aga Khan and President Zia-ul-Haq review the model of the Aga Khan University during the inauguration of the School of Nursing in Karachi, Pakistan in 1981.

His Highness the Aga Khan speaks with villagers working with the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Amrapur, India in 1989. Rural development programmes seek to contribute to rural poverty reduction through community involvement and empowerment that leads to the efficient management and improved productivity of natural resources.

His Highness the Aga Khan touring the Humayun’s Tomb - Sunder Nursery - Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti Urban Renewal Project, in the heart of Delhi, India to review progress on the project, October 2011. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has immensely contributed to cultural restoration of monuments in the country. Since 2007, the Initiative has led to over 30 monuments being conserved, almost 150 acres sensitively landscaped, over 2000 individual craftsmen employed and over 20,000 trees planted.

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Aga Khan Development Network

His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

60 years of commitment to improving Quality of Life for all

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