Articles of Interest

“I looked at this internship as a window of opportunity to discover more about where I come from and…as an opportunity to help my own people,” says Genesis Kayemba. Genesis is one of the many Aga Khan Academies students who participated in summer internships within the Aga Khan Development Network and other partner organisations earlier this year. These unique internships give students hands-on development and work experience within their home communities and countries.

Rethinking urban housing design is a tall task for a teenager, but that didn’t deter Academy student Insha Ladha. After seeing first-hand the difficult living conditions in an informal housing settlement in Hyderabad, Insha decided to focus her grade 10 personal project on rethinking settlement design to improve the residents’ quality of life. Through their personal projects, Insha and many of her peers at the Academies are tackling challenging social issues head-on.

Science has become year 6 student Eden Ngatata’s favourite subject, thanks to Educating Girls in Science, an Aga Khan Academy Mombasa outreach programme. In addition to developing girls’ skills and interest in the sciences, the programme is fostering their self-confidence and determination. “I’m aiming higher and higher so that the sky is the limit,” says Eden, “but I think for us girls, we have no limit.”

By bringing teachers from different cultures together with students, the teacher exchange programme works towards His Highness’s vision of a network of Academies that foster creativity, curiosity and inquiry rooted in “a pluralistic tradition in which other views, ethnicities, religions and perspectives are valued.”