Founded and guided by His Highness the Aga Khan, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) brings together a number of development agencies, institutions, and programmes that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. A central feature of the AKDN's approach to development is to design and implement strategies in which its different agencies participate in particular settings to help those in need achieve a level of self-reliance and improve the quality of life.
AKDN believes that successful development occurs when a continuum of development activities offers people in a given area not only a rise in incomes, but a broad, sustained improvement in the overall quality of life. Therefore, in most areas where it works, the agencies of the AKDN integrate their activities in order to reinforce each other’s efforts and impact.
AKDN recognises that achieving long-term positive change is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon. For many years, development institutions focused on narrowly defined goals – without much coordination with organisations outside their discipline. Many thought that rising incomes would lead to development. In AKDN’s experience, however, income disparity is only one aspect of poverty. Other forms can be just as damaging: a lack of access to quality education, the inability to mitigate the effects of disasters, or an absence of effective civil society organisations.
As a result, despite gains in income, the overall quality of life remains largely unchanged. His Highness the Aga Khan explained this in a speech in 2002 in Amsterdam. “Development is sustainable only if the beneficiaries become, in a gradual manner, the masters of the process. This means that initiatives cannot be contemplated exclusively in terms of economics, but rather as an integrated programme that encompasses social and cultural dimensions as well,” he explained. He went on to give examples. “Education and skills training, health and public services, conservation of cultural heritage, infrastructure development, urban planning and rehabilitation, rural development, water and energy management, environmental control, and even policy and legislative development are among the various aspects that must be taken into account.”
In eastern Africa, for example, hospitals and clinics of the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) and the Aga Khan University (AKU) provide a network of healthcare facilities that range from rural clinics to a major teaching hospital in Nairobi. AKU also runs medical and nursing degree programmes in the region to build human resources. In addition to the expansion of the medical facilities in Nairobi, AKU plans the construction of a Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Arusha, Tanzania. The Aga Khan Academies, which aim to educate a new generation of leaders for Africa, began operating its first school in Mombasa, Kenya in 2003. Each academy is a resource centre for the professional development of teachers in their area.
The project companies of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) play a major economic role that supports the social projects. Frigoken, for example, works with 75,000 small-holder farmers to process green beans for the European market. The Nation Group, a major component of eastern Africa’s civil society since it was launched at independence, publishes newspapers and broadcasts radio and television. The US$ 900 million Bujagali hydroelectric project, Uganda’s first private hydroelectric power project, produces nearly 50 percent of the country’s electricity. The Serena Hotels, another AKFED project company that operates 24 hotel properties in the region, has been an important innovator in culturally and environmentally sensitive tourism. Other project companies operate in key industries such as agricultural packaging, finance, aviation and pharmaceuticals. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), the cultural agency of the Network, focuses on culture as a means to leverage cultural assets in order to spur economic growth.
The aim of this integrated effort is to introduce a range of disciplines and a variety of catalysts that, in combination, help spark a broad advance of economic, cultural and social development and improvements in the quality of life.
His Highness the Aga Khan fulfils part of his hereditary responsibilities as Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims through the AKDN. AKDN is therefore a contemporary endeavour of the Ismaili Imamat to realise the social conscience of Islam through institutional action. AKDN’s ethical framework therefore arises out of the conjunction of these responsibilities.
“The ethics of Islam,” His Highness the Aga Khan has said, “bridge the realms of faith on the one hand and practical life on the other – what we call Din and Dunya. Accordingly, my spiritual responsibilities for interpreting the faith are accompanied by a strong engagement in issues relating to the quality of life and wellbeing. This latter commitment extends not only to the Ismaili community but also to those with whom they share their lives - locally, nationally and internationally”.
Central to this ethical framework is compassion for those less fortunate. But at the same time, the forms of compassion must not compromise the dignity of human beings. Charity can take the form of material wealth, but it can also be gifts of time, knowledge, expertise and skills. The ultimate aim of AKDN’s work is to help people move beyond dependency and become self-reliant. AKDN ethics include inclusiveness and pluralism.
AKDN does not restrict its work to a particular community, country or region and aims to improve living conditions and opportunities for people regardless of their particular religion, race, ethnicity or gender. AKDN employees are also of different faiths, origins and backgrounds. AKDN believes that society is best served when it provides the space and the means for human beings to reach their fullest potential, regardless of their background. The framework stresses education and research as one of the means by which individuals and societies reach that full potential.
To that end, AKDN itself operates over 200+ schools, as well as two universities with 11 campuses, and provides a range of school improvement programmes from early childhood to university. Others develop human resources, build institutional capabilities, conduct relevant research and advocate for improvements in education.
The ethical framework encompasses care for the sick and disabled. This translates within AKDN as a commitment to healthcare. AKDN delivers health services through over 200+ health facilities, including 13 hospitals; installs water supply and sanitation systems; promotes the construction of safe and hygienic housing; operates university teaching hospitals that train health providers including nurses, physicians and allied health professionals - in Pakistan and East Africa; and carries out health research, often in concert with other partners. Its health programmes reach over 5 million patients every year.
Preservation of a sound mind and its mental capacities are among the foundational principles of Islam's ethical code. AKDN also believes that there is a collective responsibility to the earth – of environmental stewardship. Each generation is ethically bound to leave behind a wholesome, sustainable social and physical environment. This ethic carries through in the many parks and gardens built by AKDN in rapidly urbanising cities, which have attracted tens of millions of visitors; to the hydroelectric plants that provide entire nations with electricity from renewable sources; reforestation programmes that have planted over 100 million trees; water management measures in remote and resource-poor areas; the reclamation of hundreds of hectares of degraded land; and climate adaptation techniques like efficient stoves and drip irrigation.
Governance and ethical behaviour are also central to the AKDN framework. AKDN believes that those who control and administer resources for the benefit of others are bound by the duty of trusteeship. “Governance” therefore is built on the principles of trust, probity, equity and accountability. All AKDN programmes are expected to operate under these principles, even in contexts where it is difficult to do so.
A vibrant and competent civil society is the cornerstone of a healthy and prosperous nation – and an essential part of AKDN’s work. Yet, in many parts of the world, civil society suffers from a dearth of technical knowledge, human resources and financial means. To address these gaps, AKDN has been carefully supporting robust institutions that experiment, adapt and accommodate diversity.
Founded on the ethics and values that drive progress and positive change, these civil society institutions – of education, health, science and research, and culture, to name a few – harness the private energies of citizens committed to the public good.
AKDN’s supports 40,000 civil society organisations that count 1.3 million members in over 30 countries. In South Asia, for example, AKDN works with the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy to help make NGOs more effective, accountable and relevant when responding to the social needs of the communities they serve. In East Africa, AKDN is using mobile devices to connect remote and marginalised communities to e-learning courses and to disseminate innovative agricultural techniques to poor farmers.
For over 50 years, AKDN has worked in resource-poor or challenging environments, implementing innovative responses to water shortages, land degradation, seismic risk, food security, shortages of fodder and fuel, as well as many of the attendant challenges that such environments present. With changes in the climate, many of these problems have been made more acute or spread to a larger area.
The award-winning Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, for example, first grew out of a need to better manage scarce natural resources, including water, food, fodder and energy, which had been threatened both by climatic and man-made challenges.
Since the 1980s, AKDN’s rural programmes have helped farmers manage their natural resources and generate alternative sources of incomes. They have helped communities explore drip irrigation, biogas projects, community hydroelectric plants, windmills and solar energy. AKDN has also helped to build community assets that address climate issues over the longer term, such as the planting of over 100 million trees and the development of more efficient smoke-free stoves - among 70 other low-cost habitat improvements - that reduce the demand for fuelwood.
Now, to address the increasing threat posed by natural hazards and climate change, AKDN has brought together a number of activities designed to address the problems of human habitat and climate adaptation, including safe housing design and earthquake-resistant construction, village planning and natural hazard mitigation, water supply and sanitation, and improved indoor living conditions, mainly in rural communities.
AKDN is committed to highlighting the key role of women in the development process and to facilitating their participation. At the same time, it looks for ways to engage with men around the attitudinal and structural changes that flow from programmes that benefit women.
In most countries and communities, gender determines both domestic and productive roles. Women generally have responsibilities for both, but their ability to contribute to society is constrained by social, cultural and political traditions. Compared to men, they tend to be less educated, more limited in their options and paid less. Yet women manage households, raise children, pass knowledge to the next generation, tend livestock, grow and process crops and often run businesses to supplement family income. Families and communities benefit exponentially when women reap greater rewards for their own efforts and labour. Once sustenance needs are covered, women quickly address the health and education needs of other generations.
Raising the competence and confidence of women – and, correspondingly, to open up the thinking of men – is a long-term commitment of the AKDN. In addition to supporting research and action aimed at making women's participation a reality, the AKDN supports women with village credit schemes, training in forestry, masonry, crop and livestock management, accounting and marketing. It encourages education and careers for women.
The promotion of pluralism has been an aim of many of AKDN’s programmes, from the Aga Khan Museum in Canada to a reading programme for children in the Kyrgyz Republic, from a project for the integration of immigrants in Lisbon to music schools in Afghanistan. AKDN’s ultimate aim is to nurture successful civil societies in which every citizen, irrespective of cultural, religious or ethnic differences, can realise his or her full potential.
His Highness the Aga Khan said in a speech in 2002, that “the inability of human society to recognise pluralism as a fundamental value constitutes a serious danger for our future". In AKDN’s experience, therefore, respect for pluralism in society is an essential component of development. When it breaks down, the gains made by poor communities can be set back by decades, particularly when civil strife follows.
To promote understanding of the vital role pluralism does play, AKDN and the Canadian government created the Global Centre for Pluralism, a major international centre for research, education and exchange about the values, practices and policies that underpin pluralist societies.
Drawing inspiration from the Canadian experience, the centre functions as a global repository and source for knowledge about fostering pluralistic values, policies, and practices. It undertakes research, delivers programmes, facilitates dialogue, develops pedagogical materials and works with civil society partners worldwide to build the capacities of individuals, groups, educational institutions and governments to promote indigenous approaches to pluralism in their own countries and communities.
AKDN’s overall goal is the improvement of the Quality of Life (QoL), which encompasses improvements in material standards of living, health and education and a set of values and norms which include pluralism and cultural tolerance, gender and social equity, civil society organisation and good governance.
Development models require time to demonstrate their effectiveness and to enable local communities to take full responsibility for their own future development. The AKDN agencies, therefore, make a long-term commitment to the areas in which they work.
In AKDN’s experience, the understandable but short-term humanitarian impulse to help poor people is usually not enough to lift them out of the cycle of poverty. For AKDN, poverty alleviation is conceived as part of a long-term strategy for developing a community’s resources in ways that lead to self-reliance.
This begins with an in-depth analysis of the multiple causes of poverty in consultation with the community, then the implementation of a strategy that, in concept and execution, is long term. AKDN has also learned that, to succeed, the various programmes should be implemented simultaneously rather than sequentially.
For AKDN, therefore, poverty alleviation requires an integrated programme that encompasses variables such as education and skills training, health and public services, the conservation of cultural heritage, infrastructure development, urban planning and rehabilitation, water and energy management, and even enabling policies and laws.
To that end, the AKDN has been building institutions and long-term programmes for over 50 years – including hydroelectric dams that power nations and regions, schools, clinics and hospitals, companies offering essential goods and services such as pharmaceuticals or packaging, early childhood programmes that give poor children a head start, tree-planting programmes that plant millions of trees, public parks in fast-growing cities, hotels that set standards (and win awards) for environmental stewardship, universities and nursing schools that provide essential human resources for developing nations, savings groups that help the poorest of the poor weather financial hardship and build a better future, and an architectural award that has promoted sustainability and human scale and, in the process, influenced architectural discourse for four decades, among many others.
AKDN relies on the Ismaili tradition of volunteer service to assist in the implementation and maintenance of projects, notably at health and education facilities. Others outside the Ismaili community participate by volunteering their energies for the creation or maintenance of facilities that improve the quality of life. Many others participate in annual fund-raising events, the proceeds of which go directly to programmes in developing countries.
