Muslim-Network in association with Emerald Network is pleased to invite you to its 4th networking event

Title: ‘My journey to the Town Hall’

Venue:  Sheffield Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

Date: Friday 11^th December 2009

Time: 6:00 PM - Networking Reception

7:30 PM - Guest speaker followed by Halal finger food (includes soft drinks and tea)

Dress code: Business Casual

Tickets: £10 advance booking only (includes Halal finger food) – on-line http://www.muslim-network. co.uk

LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE – PLEASE BOOK BY FRIDAY 4^th DECEMBER 2009.

Please note 50% of funds raised will be donated to the Central Asia Institute

(If you do not have a PayPal account, you may use a debit or credit card instead)

Guest Speaker: Shaffaq Mohammed, Councillor for Climate Change and Local Environment (Sheffield)

Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed is a graduate of the University of Sheffield and has over 15 years experience of community work.  He is a qualified youth worker with responsibilities for both the supervision and delivery of detached and centre based youth work within the Arbourthorne area of the city.  His cabinet responsibility within Sheffield City Council is for Climate Change and Local Environment, which covers parks and woodland, waste management as well as environmental services.  He is an active member of the local community been involved with charity work within the city as well as abroad, most notably spending three weeks providing relief and assistance within Kashmir and Pakistan following the October 2005 earthquake.

In Association with:

Sheffield City Council

www.sheffield.gov.uk

www.emeraldnetwork.co.uk

SPONSORED CHARITY

The Central Asia Institute (CAI) is a non-profit organization, co-founded by Greg Mortenson and Jean Hoerni whose mission is to promote and provide community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Central Asia Institute's achievements include:

• 84 schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• 687 fully or partially supported teachers
• Education for over 34,000 students, including 24,000 girls
• Temporary education for victims of Pakistan’s October 2005 7.8 Richter scale earthquake. The quake killed 74,000 people, including 18,000 students, and displaced 2.8 million refugees. CAI has rebuilt or re-established 16 schools destroyed in the earthquake.

"A village must agree to increase girls’ enrolment by 10% a year" before CAI will build a school. "Mortenson believes, as do many experts, that providing education for girls directly helps to lower infant mortality and bring down birth rates—which in turn reduces the ignorance and poverty that help fuel religious extremism."

In 2009, Greg Mortenson, co-founder of Central Asia Institute, received the Sitara-e-Pakistan (Star of Pakistan), Pakistan's highest civilian award, for his humanitarian work and promotion of girls’ schools and education.