Sports Festivals encourage individuals with special needs

Sports Festival participants in Thatta, Sindh take part in the opening procession. Photo: Courtesy Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan.

According to a study by the World Health Organisation, over 600 million people around the world are believed to have disabilities in their physical, intellectual, emotional or social development. Furthermore, 80% of these individuals live in developing countries where their needs are often underserved. This leads to economic and educational disparities as well as societal marginalisation. However, developing countries are increasingly adopting the United Nations guidelines on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and this compliance is leading to the implementation of programmes which support individuals with special needs.

The Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan (AKSWBP), launched an initiative nearly 20 years ago to help individuals with special needs lead more fulfilling lives. It is the Board’s belief that all individuals have the right and the ability to learn and work towards personal satisfaction. In an ongoing effort to encourage positive changes in society's attitudes towards those with special needs the Board has launched a series of six Sports Festivals in urban and rural areas across Pakistan including in Chitral, the Northern Areas, Punjab and Sindh. The Festivals aim to recognise the talents and abilities of special needs individuals, as well as to ensure their participation in the Golden Jubilee year celebrations. The festivals include sporting activities and choreographed athletic moves designed to highlight the importance and benefits of physical fitness to the participants and their families.

Demonstrating talents during a choreographed acrobatic routine at the Lahore, Punjab games. Photo: Courtesy Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan.

The first Sports Festival was held in Garam Chashma, Chitral in July 2007, where more than 150 individuals with special needs participated in a series of games, including 50-metre and 100-metre races, obstacle and relay races, and tug of war. This colourful occasion was attended by more than 6 500 people from across the region. A para-glider swooped in from the skies amidst cheers and laughter to kick off the games, followed by the lighting of a torch and a procession of Festival participants across the grounds. The games were formally declared open by Amir Afzal Bulbul Taj, President of the Regional Ismaili Council for Upper Chitral. Iqbaluddin Shahadat, Chairman of AKSWBP’s Committee for Chitral welcomed the participants, their families and guests to the event. He highlighted the aims of the event as well as future programmes planned by the AKSWBP. As families and guests enjoyed the traditional music and cultural programmes that complemented the event, participants eagerly awaited their turn to demonstrate their sportsmanship.

Using martial arts, a young participant breaks a concrete slab at the event in Thatta, Sindh. Photo: Courtesy Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan.

Events held in other locales saw similar festivities with a large audience turnout. The second Festival, held in Booni, Chitral, was attended by over 8 500 people who cheered-on the participants.

In Thatta, Sindh over 2 700 people watched the 150 participants from Karachi and across the province take part in the festival. In addition to playing games, participants at the Sindh Festival also performed acrobatic tricks, karate and physical training routines, and enjoyed a beautiful fireworks display during the closing ceremonies.

The fourth event, in Punjab’s historic city of Lahore, attracted over 1 200 spectators who watched over 100 participants engage in sporting activities, marching formation exercises, acrobatics, and karate displays. The fifth and sixth events are to be held in the Gilgit and Hunza regions as well as the Ishkoman and Puniyal regions of Pakistan in the spring of 2008.

The sporting events have provided participants with an opportunity to increase their involvement in physical fitness activities, demonstrate courage, experience joy and strengthen their friendships. Abdul Rehman, a participant from Kuragh, Upper Chitral was exuberant: "I have been looking forward to participating in this Golden Jubilee event. During the practice sessions, and now, I feel very good to see so many people cheering for us." The Festivals infused a sense of community and spirited competition in the participants, who relished being cheered on by the crowd as they performed. These sporting events also highlighted the unique needs and rights of people with special needs in society. Families of the participants were especially touched. With tears in his eyes, Karim Madad Jan, a parent from Rech, Upper Chitral, remarked that “the Social Welfare Board has given a re-birth to my son, Shah Nawaz. Such events and activities have given Jamati members with special needs the courage to come out of their homes and see the world.”

Participants engage in a lively game at the Festival in Booni, Chitral. Photo: Courtesy Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan.

Many of the participants in these Festivals, encouraged by their performance and the support of the community, are now looking to make their mark elsewhere. Hundreds of individuals have registered with the AKSWBP in Karachi and are actively engaged in athletic training and sports, including participation in the Special Olympics Pakistan and various city, national and international level events. Some of these individuals have excelled and hope to continue to raise the profile of those with special needs in Pakistan.

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From AKDN to Google

Aleem Walji. Photo: Courtesy Aleem Walji.

Aleem Walji recently joined Google.org (www.google.org) the philanthropic arm of Google, the world’s largest Internet search engine company, as part of the Global Development team. He brings to Google a broad range of insight in social development drawing on both, his education and his former role as Chief Executive Officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Syria. The Foundation is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (www.akdn.org ). Walji gives us his thoughts on the transition from the AKDN, a network of development agencies, to one that is just starting.

You must be enthusiastic about the prospect of being involved in the founding stages of a social development programme for a global organisation?

This is a very exciting opportunity which comes with enormous responsibility in helping set direction for Google.org. Our challenge is to leverage Google’s strengths around information and building scalable platforms in ways that can help alleviate poverty in the developing world. Our greatest asset is our people, and their “healthy scepticism towards the impossible.”

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that many organisations have worked into their structure. Is Google's approach different?

Our approach goes beyond CSR. Our founders created Google.org because they had a vision to use the strengths of Google to help humanity and make the world a better place. They have honoured their commitment by devoting approximately 1% of Google’s yearly profits and equity, as well as significant employee time to philanthropy. Google.org is a hybrid philanthropy which means we can engage in grant-making like many other foundations, but in addition, Google.org can also invest in breakthrough ideas and technologies that may generate a positive financial return. We can also engage in policy and advocacy which gives us tremendous flexibility.

Farmers with Walji and other AKDN staff in a field in Salamieh, Syria. This farm uses drip irrigation to improve crop yield and save water. The AKDN Water Management Programme has scaled-up to include hundreds of farmers since its inception in 2003. Photo: Courtesy Aleem Walji.

Do you see some synergies in the future with AKDN, whose efforts in the development field are both wide ranging and deeply integrated in the areas they operate?

AKDN and Google.org are committed to empowering people to act and make decisions that will improve the quality of their lives. We are just 'enablers', we believe citizens drive social change. Both organisations share a belief in the power of entrepreneurship and we believe the private sector has a critical role to play in creating vibrant economies that ultimately sustain social and economic development. And our geographic interests overlap in Eastern Africa and South Asia.

Can you elaborate on the projects outlined under the Global Development team?

We want to increase the flow of capital to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the developing world because they drive economic growth and create jobs, which leads to a more equitable distribution of wealth. We want to demonstrate that SMEs can be profitable and that, in places like Africa and India there can be positive financial and economic returns on investment.

We will also focus on improving the reach and quality of essential public services (such as health, education, water and sanitation) given their disproportionate impact on the poor. We believe in the power of information in empowering citizens, governments, and civil society groups to hold one another to account and make better, more informed decisions.

In Syria, the Water Management Programme of the Aga Khan Development Network uses a variety of techniques including tunnelling to conserve water and bring crops to market earlier as a way of increasing the income of farmers. Photo: Courtesy Aleem Walji.

Google has a global reach and a solid reputation. What can we expect from Google's entry into the social development arena?

We have an opportunity to shine a light on a number of issues that affect our world and affect large numbers of people, particularly the poor. We take this responsibility very seriously. It is essential for us to figure out where and on what issues we can bring the greatest value given our strengths and resources as a company.

We will focus our efforts on five major initiatives: i) Predict and prevent emerging infectious diseases before they become local, regional, or global crises by identifying 'hot spots' and providing early warning; ii) Use information to empower citizens, [service] providers, and policy makers to improve the delivery of essential public services such as education, health, water, and sanitation; iii) Fuel the growth of small and medium enterprises by increasing the flow of risk capital to the developing world; iv) Create utility scale electricity from clean renewable energy sources that is cheaper than electricity from coal; and, v) Seed innovation, demonstrate technology, inform the debate, and stimulate market demand to foster mass commercialisation of plug-in vehicles. These are the initiatives in which we will invest our resources as we make our entry into the field of social development.

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Annemarie Schimmel Scholarship Awarded to Professor Rahile Dawut

Annemarie Schimmel Scholarship Awarded to Professor Rahile Dawut
February 2008

The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) has awarded its second Annemarie Schimmel Scholarship, which is given every three years, to Professor Rahile Dawut, Director of the Center for Anthropology and Folklore and Professor at the School of Humanities at Xinjiang University. One aim of Professor Dawut’s research is to further the understanding of Islam in China.
Professor Dawut, whose research focuses on the folklore and local Muslim rituals of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, received her Ph.D. from Beijing Normal University in 1998. Her publications include Mazar Worship Among the Uyghur (Xinjiang University Press, 2001) and Introduction to Uyghur Mazar (Xinjiang People’s Press, 2001). She has been a Visiting Scholar at Pennsylvania University’s Center for Folklore and Ethnography as well as at the University of California Berkeley’s Department of Anthropology.
IIS’ Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship, inaugurated in 2004, is given to a scholar working in the fields of interest to the late Professor Schimmel. The previous fellowship recipient was Dr Ahmet Karamustafa. The £10,000 award is intended to assist the recipient to complete research leading to publication of a book. Professor Dawut will use her award to explore shrine pilgrimage among the Uyghurs in China and its relationship to Sufism and Shi‘ism.


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