Karakoram Area Development Organization, better known as its acronym KADO, has appointed Mehnaz Parveen as its first-ever female CEO. The vacant position of Chief Executive Officer at KADO Hunza was announced on 2nd August 2019.

Mehnaz Parveen, the new CEO of KADO Hunza, is a resident of Passu, Gojal. She has been working at Foundation for Arts, Culture & Education (FACE) as a Director and Institute for Preservation of Arts and Culture (IPAC) prior to FACE. She has also been associated with Indus Blues as a Production Designer. Indus Blues is an award-winning Pakistani documentary that focuses on the fading musical instruments in Pakistan.

Mehnaz Parveen holds a degree in journalism from Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi. She also studied documentary filmmaking from Madison Area Technical College, Watertown, Wisconsin, USA.

She has been in a leading position for Music Mela events in Hunza and Islamabad. Music Mela is an event organized by the Foundation for Arts, Culture & Education (FACE) in collaborations with partner organizations and brands.

Mehaz Parveen is also the co-founder of Seabuckthorn Hunza restaurant which is based in Islamabad’s sector F8. The restaurant serves Hunza Traditional Foods.

The new CEO brings on table years of experience working with indigenous communities from Kalash to Tharparkar. Mehnaz Parveen, during her time at FACE, has worked tirelessly for improving the livelihoods of these indigenous communities and for the promotion of culture and folk music of these areas.

“Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO) is an indigenous initiative aimed at to improve the socio-economic conditions of people in Gilgit-Baltistan.”

www.kado.org.pk

KADO has been working actively since the mid-90s for the promotion of culture, entrepreneurship and giving training to differently-abled and young people across Gilgit-Baltistan and even Chitral.

With a headquarter based in Aliabad, Hunza, KADO has spent over a billion Pakistani Rupees, mostly grant and aid money, during the past two decades. KADO is currently operating projects like the Gems and Jewellery Development Centre, Karakoram Handicraft Development Project, Hunza Arts and Cultural Forum, Hunza Environmental Committee, Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), Rehabilitation Center and HiMaT ILDP.

To protect school children from natural disasters and other insecurities, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) convened government education departments, academia, district disaster management authorities and the media in Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab.

Mr. Hafiz Noorullah, Education Development Officer, Chitral, said on a radio talk show:

“A lack of awareness and knowledge makes the disaster happen. So there is a need to have more and more information sharing through different media platforms and involvement of young people in interactive discussions to sensitize them on the topics of safety and security.”

Mr. Nawab Ali Khan, Chief Executive Officer, AKAH Pakistan said:

“In the 2005 earthquake, Pakistan lost around 20,000 children due to vulnerable structures and lack of awareness and preparedness, which cannot be repeated. We need our schools to be resilient and better prepared
for similar situations. We are thankful to our public and private-sector partners for joining hands with us to achieve this objective.”

For the last 20 years, AKAH has been designing and implementing programmes on Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation in some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable areas. More than 1,000 schools in disaster-prone areas have benefitted from the development of hazard and risk maps, school safety plans, provision of school safety kits, and awareness raising and capacity building of individuals.

School-level awareness raising sessions have been part of the work of the Aga Khan Agency since the Islamabad Conference on School Safety held in 2008. AKAH’s School Safety Programme will contribute towards the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s one million safe schools and hospitals global campaign, and contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and the practical implementation of the Pakistan School Safety Framework.

For further information, please contact:
[email protected]

NOTES:
The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), which merges the capabilities of Focus Humanitarian Assistance, the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, and the Aga Khan Development Network’s Disaster Risk Management Initiative focuses on preparing for both sudden and slow-onset disasters. AKAH works to ensure that people live in physical settings that are as safe as possible from the effects of natural disasters; that residents who do live in high- risk areas are able to cope with disasters in terms of preparedness and response; and that these settings provide access to social and financial services that lead to greater opportunity and a
better quality of life. Initially, priority areas of AKAH will include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and India.

Read more about the agency at: http://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-agency-habitat