AKDN | Early Childhood Development

Our community health programmes are designed to reach vulnerable groups in society, including young children. We provide resources and training for health workers, help to create child- and family-friendly spaces in health facilities, and work to identify and help children in need of supplemental nutrition.

Early childhood programmes provide ongoing training and support for teachers, helping them provide safe, stimulating and nurturing early learning environments for young children. Programmes serve children as young as 18 months. Our preschools use a child-centred active learning approach that encourages teamwork and a pluralist ethos. They operate to international best practice standards. We take an approach tailored to regional needs, using locally sensitive curricula and languages and working with partners on the ground.

For example:

• The Madrasa Early Childhood Programme in East Africa helps underprivileged communities to establish and manage preschools. It discusses options with community leaders, helps plan the schools and provides facilities. It offers training for preschool teachers and school management committees and also provides ongoing mentoring and support. The programme began in Kenya in 1989 and now runs across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. An independent regional impact study from 1999-2005 found a significant difference in children’s cognitive development and later success in school.


• Rural communities in Kyrgyzstan often migrate to high pastures, or jailoos, for several months each year. AKF operates satellite kindergartens and libraries in yurts to enable children to keep learning. Watch the BBC documentary


• The Aga Khan preschools in Gujarat, India, operate in rural/semi-urban areas. Supported by 140 volunteers, they are affordable for those from a difficult socio-economic background. They take a child-initiated learning approach and have a strong focus on inclusivity. Two of the preschools won Education World Preschool Grand Jury Awards in 2020.

Having quality, affordable childcare available offers mothers the freedom to work. Only 21 percent of people in the Kyrgyz Republic have access to ECD services and early education. As well as meaning that many children do not acquire the skills needed for primary school, their mothers’ income-earning abilities are restricted, affecting the whole family. AKF and the United States Agency for International Development are working with stakeholders on how to increase economic opportunities for women while enabling families to support their youngest children. They are developing an ECD Startup Kit, building ECD and business skills for female entrepreneurs, and facilitating community support. They aim to help women start and run ECD services, increasing access for children in semi-urban areas. Read more

Meet Favziya from Tajikistan, who established her own ECD centre after taking a business planning course at the University of Central Asia’s School of Professional and Continuing Education.

AKDN’s institutions and agencies are keen to develop and share best practice, whether by developing professional training curricula or researching successful pedagogical approaches. The Aga Khan University’s (AKU) virtual Early Childhood Development Workforce Hub aims to advance the wellbeing of children and families around the world, bridging the gaps that hinder children in resource-constrained and marginalised areas from achieving their developmental potential. Launched in 2021, it offers training and information to caregivers, frontline workers, policymakers, practitioners and other ECD stakeholders. Find out more

AKF manages an ECD Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, which is a living laboratory for learning and knowledge sharing. Its research has led to national spinoff programmes and the widespread use of a child-centred learning methodology. AKF contributes to the education of ECD professionals through a Master’s degree in Lisbon and postgraduate training in Porto. Find out more