Our Approach to Development

In eastern Africa, for example, our health facilities range from rural clinics to a major teaching hospital in Nairobi, with medical and nursing degree programmes to build human resources. The Aga Khan Academies in Mombasa and Maputo are educating a new generation of leaders, and providing professional development resource centres for local teachers. Innovative rice farming programmes in Madagascar and Tanzania are helping to end the hungry season and generate better income for thousands of rural families.

The project companies of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) play a major economic role. Frigoken, for example, works with tens of thousands of smallholder farmers to process green beans for the European market. The Nation Media Group, a major component of eastern Africa’s civil society since it was launched at independence, publishes newspapers, broadcasts radio and television and hosts digital platforms. In Uganda, the US$ 900 million Bujagali hydroelectric power project produces a third of the country’s electricity. The Serena Hotels, operating 22 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 and pharmaceuticals.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture restores cultural assets including historic sites and open spaces to spur economic growth and social development.

This integrated effort combines a range of disciplines and a variety of catalysts to spark a broad advance of economic, cultural and social development and improvements in the quality of life.

Central to this ethical framework is compassion for those less fortunate, without compromising the dignity of human beings. Charity can take the form of material wealth, but 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’s ethics include inclusiveness and pluralism. We do not restrict our work to a particular community, country or region. We aim 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. We believe that humans should have the space and the means to reach their fullest potential, regardless of their background.

Education and research are means by which individuals and societies reach that full potential. To that end, we operate over 200 schools, as well as two universities with 11 campuses. We provide a range of school improvement programmes from early childhood to university. We 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. Our health programmes reach over eight million patients annually.

We:

• deliver health services through 729 health facilities, including 22 hospitals;
• install water supply and sanitation systems;
• promote the construction of safe and hygienic housing;
• operate university teaching hospitals that train health providers including nurses, physicians and allied health professionals in Pakistan and East Africa; and
• carry out health research, often in concert with other partners.

Preservation of a sound mind and its mental capacities are also amongst 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;
• 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;
• reclamation of hundreds of hectares of degraded land; and
• climate adaptation techniques like efficient stoves and drip irrigation.

We believe that those who control and administer resources for the benefit of others are bound by the duty of trusteeship. AKDN governance is built on the principles of trust, probity, equity and accountability. All AKDN programmes are expected to operate under these principles.

Ethical Framework