The month in pictures: May

Teacher and learner innovation design workshops in Kenya, architecture for education and development in Portugal, and low carbon agriculture in India: scroll down to catch a glimpse of our work this month.

Mary Wausi is studying at the Kinango Vocational Training Centre in the mechanical department after being sponsored through AKF’s East Africa COVID-19 Response Programme. She has always had a passion for cars and pursuing this course has been a dream come true for her. Despite the course being male dominated, Mary is determined to break the stereotype – she wants to be a role model for younger girls who also want to pursue male dominated careers. She says, “it’s all in the mindset… what a man can do, I can do”. Mary’s dream is to own her own garage so she can be self-employed and offer opportunities to young people in her community.

Location: Mombasa, Kenya

Photographer: Isaac Njagi

In the rural areas of Syria, opportunities can be scarce, and agriculture is a lifeline for women to earn a living. Supported by AKF Syria, these women cultivate a diverse array of crops year-round in the green houses, including parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce. With new techniques and training, these farmers make the most of their land, conserve water, and unlock the full potential of each harvest.

Location: Syria

Photographer: Ali Shaheen

In Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki District, young women are spearheading water quality testing efforts. They are training their communities on how to test water quality to guarantee safe drinking water and reduce the risk of waterborne diseases.

Location: Barabanki District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Photographer: Tariq Khan

In Mombasa, teachers have been participating in ’design sprint workshops’ for Schools2030, AKF’s flagship education programme. The sprints invited teachers and youth partners to engage in the design process, enabling them to develop and test learning innovations in their classrooms and communities.

Location: Mombasa, Kenya

Photographer: Isaac Njagi

Learners also participated in Schools2030’s ’design sprint workshops’. The children and youth were able to interact with their teachers’ innovations, offering the teachers real-time feedback on their ideas. Involving learners and teachers in this way is central to Schools2030’s human-centered approach.

Location: Mombasa, Kenya

Photographer: Isaac Njagi

On 4th May, AKF Portugal and Casa Mendes Gonçalves co-hosted a conference, ’Educational environments of quality and sustainability‘. The conference stimulated thought and reflection on the buildings designed and built for childhood education and development. The Ismaili Centre in Lisbon welcomed Japanese architects Takaharu and Yui Tezuka (left) as panellists, whose work has been recognised for design and innovation in buildings for education. Architect Nadir Bonaccorso (right) also featured on the panel, discussing the importance of addressing climate change in architecture.

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Photographer: Rui Gouveia

A farmer uses bullocks instead of a tractor for ploughing his fields. This method has zero greenhouse gas emissions and prevents soil compaction. This shift back to a more traditional ploughing approach is part of AKF India’s low carbon agriculture programme in this region.

Location: Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, India

Photographer: Samar Bahadur

Ahmed Mwichande (right), is 26 years old. He was born and raised in Jomvu, a subcounty of Mombasa. He runs his own business – Big Family Waste Management – cleaning and collecting waste in his community. With his team (pictured), Ahmed sorts the waste for plastics and other recyclable materials which are then sold to boost revenue. He has even started using some of the plastic containers they collect to grow a nursery of seedlings, which he hopes will generate an extra source of income. Through AKF’s East Africa COVID-19 Response Programme, funded by the European Union, Ahmed received human-centred design training and funding to support his business.

Location: Mombasa, Kenya

Photographer: Isaac Njagi

Arvind Kanat lives in a small remote village in Dangs, Gujarat. With the support of AKRSP-India under a youth development initiative, Arvind started his own enterprise of producing and selling different bamboo articles with ‘Warli’ – a traditional tribal painting. AKRSP-India supports rural youths to create their own economic opportunities.

Location: Gujarat, India

Photographer: Mihir Bhavsar