Carter Malik
Carter Malik is the founder and director of the Yunnan Mountain Heritage Foundation. She is married to Khalid Malik, United Nations Special Advisor to the United Nations Development Program with three children and lives in New York.
Engagement at the Yunnan Mountain Heritage Foundation
Since the launch of the Yunnan Mountain Heritage Foundation in 2006 Ms. Malik travels to Shangri-la several times a year to oversee the project work at the Handicraft Center in the old town, which aims to protect and promote cultural heritage, handicrafts, and eco-tourism in Shangri-La, Yunnan, China.[1]
The Handicraft Center is located in an old Tibetan town house that accommodates a handicraft shop, craft workshop space, volunteer residence, and meeting rooms; and serves as a showcase for local indigenous crafts. The Center is a place where tourists can meet artisans and village representatives, exchange information and learn more about the Shangri-la environs and craft traditions.[2]
Following the idea to promote poverty alleviation, sustainable livelihood and job creation in local rural communities, Ms. Malik's engagement includes her participation at several conferences on the preservation of cultural assets of Shangri-la: Friends of Shangri-La 1 (2005) and Friends of Shangri-La 2 (2007), and the first National Parks Workshop (2006.)
Personal Background
Before launching the Yunnan Mountain Heritage Foundation Carter worked in sustainable tourism and handicraft development projects in Nepal, Uzbekistan, the United States and China and has written several published articles on crafts including her contribution to Berg Encyclopedia of World Textiles on Uzbekistan’s famed textiles; History of Asian Embrodery: Uzbekistan’s Sousanis.