June 19, 2008 – By Jessica Werb, Vancouver’s Straight.com
A circle of chairs and a flip chart: are these the key to addressing poverty in the developing world? Absolutely, according to Bridges That Unite, a travelling exhibition at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre until Sunday (June 22), which uses photographs, text, video, and interactive Web-based tools to explore Canada’s role in international development.
A celebration of a 25-year partnership between the Aga Khan Development Network and this country, Bridges That Unite brings to light stories you don’t typically read in the papers: progress in the education of women in Afghanistan; the creation of the University of Central Asia, with its three campuses under construction in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan.
At the centre of all these initiatives have been the humble flip chart and chairs, explains Khalil Shariff, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, by phone on his way home to Ottawa.
“It’s a symbol of the work we’ve done in helping to build strong, local, village-level institutions that then identify their own priorities at the village level and actually begin working toward them,” he says. “It’s not about handing things out. It’s really about investing in communities’ abilities to help themselves over a longer term.”
Ismailimail 