AKDN | Civil Society

For over 100 years, AKDN has been building institutions including:

• schools, whether establishing new schools where needed or contributing to resources and training in existing ones;
• clinics, dispensaries and hospitals offering everything from community health programmes to specialist surgery;
• companies offering essential goods and services, from packaging to clean energy;
• early childhood programmes that give disadvantaged children a head start;
• tree-planting programmes that help to safeguard the environment; 
• public parks and gardens that offer green space to millions;
• a museum that showcases different cultures;
• hotels that develop their employees and set standards for environmental stewardship;
• farmers’ associations that allow farmers to speak with one voice;
• an architectural award that has influenced architectural discourse for over four decades;
• a music award that revitalises musical heritage around the world;
• universities and nursing schools that provide essential human resources for developing nations; and
• savings groups that help those most in need to weather financial hardship and build a better future. 

We operate about 1,000 institutions or programmes in over 30 countries.

Matt Reed, Global Director of Institutional Partnerships at the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), discusses how the civil society groups with whom AKDN works were able to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Aga Khan Foundation

AKF has seeded and nurtured influential organisations including the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy, Kenyan Community Development Foundation, Afghanistan Institute for Civil Society, Centre for Health, Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness in India, and the Madrasa Early Childhood Programmes in Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programmes have employed grassroots democracy, civil society and pluralism as the springboard for a dramatic improvement in living conditions for people in remote mountain ranges, coastal regions and other poor areas. AKF’s multi-sectoral and community-driven development approach fosters peacebuilding, conflict resolution and social cohesion. AKF works closely with community leaders, local government structures, women and youth. Interventions enable inclusive and transparent decision-making systems, grievance mechanisms, and mediation and conflict resolution techniques.

Central to this transformation has been the careful development of citizen-led village organisations whose inclusive processes allow diverse communities to seek joint solutions to multi-sectoral development opportunities and challenges. AKF also supports women’s groups, water users’ associations, non-governmental organisations and professional associations. AKF supports civil society organisations that reach over seven million people, helping their members attain greater food security, higher household incomes and increased opportunities.

AKF also encourages philanthropic giving through grassroots campaigns, as well as through digital giving platforms. It supports institutions that offer certification programmes for civil society organisations, building trust with governments, donors and other stakeholders.

The Aga Khan University

The Aga Khan University has provided quality healthcare services, training and research in the developing world for over 30 years. Originally chartered in Pakistan to help improve health care in the region, campuses have now expanded to East Africa. Its six teaching sites stretch across three continents. Over 22,000 alumni, including doctors, nurses, teachers and school managers, are raising standards and playing leading roles in their respective fields. 

New faculties of arts and science in Karachi, Pakistan and Arusha, Tanzania are underway. Graduates of these schools will tackle issues crucial to the wellbeing of society: Architecture & Human Settlement; Economic Growth & Development; Government, Public Policy & Civil Society; Law; and Media & Communications.

The University of Central Asia

The Civil Society Initiative (CSI) brings to the foreground the importance of associational life in the well-being of communities and society; and of civil society organisations in giving people a voice on policy and governance. CSI aims to foster a more enabling policy and administrative environment for civil society's development, including measures that unlock the potential of philanthropy and private giving to support activities for public benefit. It also builds the organisational capacity of a wide range of civil society groups and creates public awareness of their contribution.

Building an Enabling Environment

We also help develop an enabling environment that allows the private sector, particularly civil society, to fully contribute to national development. An effective and functioning state apparatus is essential for any developing country but, in AKDN’s experience, complex development agendas cannot be left only to the state. A nation’s growth – perhaps its survival – requires private initiative. Both for-profit businesses and non-profit civil society organisations must make full and effective use of the country’s human potential, generate material resources and develop a vibrant and robust socioeconomic base. An enabling environment is therefore essential to building civil society.