Pause
  • Director of CalOES, Mark Ghilarducci, showed the signed agreement to the other remote participants.
    08 June 2023 | USA

    Partnership with California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Renewed

    Director of CalOES, Mark Ghilarducci, showed the signed agreement to the other remote participants.
  • Mark Gliarducci and the CalOES team listening to (from L to R, and top to bottom) Rafiq Dossani, Pres. Aladdin, Sophia Assanie of FOCUS, Pres. Rahim Karmali, Samia Rashid, and Minhaz Lakhani, Vice-Chair of FOCUS.
    08 June 2023 | USA

    Partnership with California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Renewed

    Mark Gliarducci and the CalOES team listening to (from L to R, and top to bottom) Rafiq Dossani, Pres. Aladdin, Sophia Assanie of FOCUS, Pres. Rahim Karmali, Samia Rashid, and Minhaz Lakhani, Vice-Chair of FOCUS.
  • Mark Glilarducci, CalOES Director, Helen Lopez, Asst. Director in the Office of International Affairs of CalOES, and Christina Curry, Chief Deputy Director of CalOES, listened to one of the remote participants prior to the ceremony.
    08 June 2023 | USA

    Partnership with California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Renewed

    Mark Glilarducci, CalOES Director, Helen Lopez, Asst. Director in the Office of International Affairs of CalOES, and Christina Curry, Chief Deputy Director of CalOES, listened to one of the remote participants prior to the ceremony.

California Office of Emergency Management renews partnership with AKAH and FOCUS.

The long-standing partnership between the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), and Focus Humanitarian Assistance, USA (FOCUS), was renewed for a further period of five years on December 30, 2022, in an online ceremony.

The document was signed by Mark Ghilarducci, Director, CalOES, Onno Ruhi, General Manager, AKAH, and Shenila Momin, Chairperson, FOCUS. Speaking at the event, Mr. Ghilarducci noted that the relationship covered a wide range of activities within the broad ambit of emergency management and disaster mitigation. The three partners supported each other through training, professional voluntarism, and community-based emergency planning and risk management. 

Mr. Ghilarducci looked forward to the partnership, further enhancing the scope of activities to areas that are significantly more technologically sophisticated than before, such as Mobile Emergency Operation Centers. Council for USA National Council President Alkarim Alidina expressed his satisfaction with the outcomes of the partnership.

President Alidina commended the partnership as a significant achievement under the Agreement of Cooperation between the Ismaili Imamat and the State of California, which was signed in 2009. The Agreement of Cooperation reaffirmed their shared commitment to dedicate human and material resources to confront poverty. It builds on past collaboration between California and the agencies of the AKDN and facilitates further collaboration in areas of mutual interest.