This year, Muslima Niyozmamadova represented the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa at the summit and engaged with other scholars on global issues that affect local communities.

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.