Volunteers In Action

The Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing enjoys the privilege of being the first nursing school in Pakistan to be affiliated with a University. The School has grown tremendously over the past four decades, and after the launch of its midwifery programme in 2013, it was renamed the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM).

Dedicated and committed volunteer Amir Kassam has served AKDN and Jamati institutions for over 40 years. During the late 1970s, Amir assisted the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) UK National Committee in its project evaluation work. More recently, he has focused on sharing his extensive knowledge of agricultural development with AKF Geneva and AKF field units in Mozambique, Syria, India, Tanzania, Madagascar and Tajikistan, and with AKDN rural support programmes in Africa and Asia.

For the past six years, the Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) has been breaking new ground in digital methods to study the written heritage of the Islamic tradition. At present, the University runs projects funded by the European Research Council and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that involve building a collection of Arabic texts – now more than 2 billion words – and studying the relationships between books.

The English Language Enhancement Programme (ELEP) is an 8-level English Language Diploma Programme adopted from the Pakistan American Cultural Centre (PACC) to provide English Language teaching to the Jamat. Lead educators are trained and certified by the PACC who, in turn, train other educators regarding the various pedagogies and didactic ways of instilling English fluency skills within the Jamat. These primarily focus on reading, writing, speaking and listening. 38 TKN volunteers, from all over Pakistan, serve as lead educators and educators and they undergo over 50 hours of training before they start teaching a class.

When the Covid-19 global pandemic hit, the whole world stopped. While many experienced difficulties establishing a “new normal” for themselves, others struggled with remembering to click the “unmute” button before speaking during Zoom meetings. Ismailis from all corners of the globe have stepped up to navigate the most challenging of situations in order to better the lives of others. Enter CONNECT, the first ever virtual camp for Ismaili Muslim Youth from across the globe.