UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka has been named a trustee of the Aga Khan University.
 A letter from the Chancellor His Highness the Aga Khan said Mrs. Tibaijuka’s choice was based on her wide experience and deep understanding of issues affecting developing countries.
“Your deep understanding of the multiple complexities of developing countries, in addition to your familiarity with Africa, from issues at the grassroots to those on an international scale, and the breadth of experience in addressing these issues with government and civil society organisations will, I am confident, greatly benefit the Aga Khan University at this exciting time of its development,” the Aga Khan said.
Chartered in 1983, Aga Khan University is a private, autonomous university that promotes human welfare through research, teaching and community service. Based on the principles of quality, access, impact and relevance, the University has campuses and programmes in Afghanistan, East Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and the United Kingdom.
Its facilities include teaching hospitals, Nursing Schools and a Medical College, Institutes for Educational Development, an Examination Board and an Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations.
Mrs. Tibaijuka holds a Doctorate of Science degree in agricultural economics from the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Uppsala. She is the first African woman elected by the UN General Assembly as Under-Secretary-General of a United Nations programme. She is currently serving a second, four-year term as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.
A Tanzanian national, Mrs. Tibaijuka was born to smallholder banana-coffee farmers in Muleba. She has served as a Member of the Commission for Africa established by British Prime Minister Tony Blair which resulted in the cancellation of multilateral debt for several African countries by the G8 Summit in 2005 at Glen Eagles, Scotland. In July 2005 the Secretary General appointed Mrs. Tibaijuka as his Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe following massive evictions of the poor in urban areas.
She is currently a member of the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, and is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, co-chaired by the former US Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, and the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. |
