Terri-Jane Yuzda













PARTNERSHIP WALK

A short walk will go a long way towards improving the lives of people struggling to survive in poverty-ravaged countries, organizers of the World Partnership Walk say. And Calgary's Karim Abbany, E.I.T., a Calgary walk organizer, encourages APEGGA members to help prove it's true in the annual May fundraiser and awareness booster for the non-profit Aga Khan Foundation Canada.

"Corporate Alberta is increasingly involved in the developing world, and this walk offers a simple way for the people of Calgary and Edmonton to demonstrate a commitment to alleviating poverty," says Mr. Abbany. "APEGGA members, like all Canadians, are increasingly concerned with global poverty issues."

The 19th annual World Partnership Walk takes place May 25 in Calgary, Edmonton and eight other Canadian cities. Last year, 8,000 participants in the Alberta walks raised more than $700,000 for the foundation, part of a $2.5-million Canadian effort.

Walk organizers seek participants, as well as awareness partnerships with companies and other organizations. Awareness partners build support among their people by forming teams and creating corporate team challenges, by holding information sessions, offering prizes, and otherwise promoting the walk and its causes.

Says Mr. Abbany: "As Canada's only public participation event for international development, the World Partnership Walk offers an unparalleled opportunity for corporations to engage themselves in today's leading edge issue, global corporate citizenship. There's a growing recognition that local and national issues are intricately linked to global issues. And we all recognize, as well, that Canadian expertise and vision can help the developing world."

Aga Khan Foundation Canada helps direct that expertise to "where it's needed most," says Mr. Abbany.

The foundation is a non-profit international development agency established in Canada in 1980. As part of the worldwide Aga Khan Development Network, the foundation supports development projects to benefit the poor in Africa and Asia, without regard to race, religion or political affiliation.

All money raised in the World Partnership Walk goes to development projects - none of it goes to administration. Many of the foundation's projects are undertaken in partnership with the Government of Canada's Canadian International Development Agency.

The Aga Khan Development Network is a non-denominational group of agencies established in 1967 by His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th Imam, or spiritual leader, of the Ismaili Muslims, who are dedicated to improving living conditions in the developing world.

Examples abound of the projects supported by Aga Khan Foundation Canada, among them:

  • The Gujarat Environmental Health Improvement Program, helping rectify the loss of groundwater to drought and overuse by agriculture in the state of Gujarat, western India.
  • The Advanced Nursing Studies Initiative, enhancing managerial and clinical practices of nurses in urban and rural East Africa.
  • The Non-Formal Primary Education Program, establishing schools in Bangladesh.
  • The Institute for Educational Development, improving teacher training in Pakistan.


WORLD PARTNERSHIP WALK
11 a.m.
Sunday
May 25, 2003

Calgary
5 km
Prince's Island Park

Edmonton
3, 7 and 10 km
Legislature Grounds

Other Participating Cities
Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Kitchener, London, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal

MORE INFORMATION

Visit www.worldpartnershipwalk.com
Contact Karim Abbany, E.I.T.
kabbany@rci.rogers.com
(403) 215-6200 Ext. 657



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