Culture
Protect the past, inspire the future...
Why use valuable resources to preserve culture?
A traditional folk song...a culture of hospitality...an historic city wall... all powerful tools for development.
In communities where poverty is entrenched, it can be difficult to see the value of spending time and resources to preserve culture. Yet nurturing culture in all its forms can:
- raise incomes and expand economic opportunities; and
- improve the quality of life by providing places to play, gather and enjoy.
Culture: A source of hope
Communities secure in their values, traditions and identities can look to the future with the confidence needed to change their lives. The Aga Khan Development Network is collaborating with communities to reveal that the past is a rich resource, able to restore hope to even the poorest citizens.
Why restore a sixteenth-century garden in war-ravaged Kabul, Afghanistan?
Baghe Babur - the garden retreat and final resting place of the Mughal Emperor Babur - lay on the frontlines when fighting broke out in Kabul in 1992. Warring factions cut down the garden's trees, set fire to its buildings, and left behind mines and unexploded ordinance. A decade later, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture initiated a major rehabilitation of the garden.
Today, Baghe Babur is Kabul's largest public open space that attracts families for picnics, celebrations and cultural events. Perhaps most important, it offered jobs and training opportunities to local Afghans involved in the reconstruction and restored hope that Afghanistan could rebuild with dignity.
