The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies[1] founded by the Aga Khan, with the primary focus of improving the quality of life in different regions of Asia and Africa.
The network focuses on health, education, culture, rural development, institution building, and economic development. AKDN's mission includes improving living conditions and opportunities for the poor without regard to faith, origin, or gender. While the agencies are secular, they follow Islamic values.
AKDN agencies' mission statement is to work towards the elimination of global poverty; the promotion and implementation of pluralism;[2] the advancement of the status of women; and the honoring of Islamic art and architecture.[3] [4] [5] To pursue their mandates, AKDN institutions rely on volunteers as well as paid staff.
As of 2008, the organization's annual budget for not-for-profit activities is approximately $950 million, mainly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. AKDN works in 30 countries around the world, and it employs approximately 96,000 paid staff.[6]
The following is a list of AKDN agencies:
Industrial Promotion Services, and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance, seek to strengthen the role of the private sector in developing countries by supporting private sector initiatives in the development process. The fund and the foundation also encourage government policies that foster what the Aga Khan first called "an enabling environment of favorable legislative and fiscal structures".AKDN also runs civil society programs. A number of their organizations are sponsored by the World Bank with the help of partner foundations.[8]
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture coordinates the Imamate's cultural activities. Its programs include the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Aga Khan Historic Cities Program, and the Education and Culture Program. The trust also provides financial support for the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. It also supports cultural development and preservation with the Award for Architecture, Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), Historic Cities, Museums & Exhibitions, Islamic Architecture and Music.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM), Financial Services, Industrial Promotion, Tourism Promotion, Media, Aviation Services are some agencies and programs offered for economic development.
In the field of education, AKDN has the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES), Aga Khan University (AKU), Aga Khan Academies (AKA), and the University of Central Asia (UCA).
In Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, the Aga Khan Foundation is employed to improve residents' standards of living.[9]
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) works to mitigate educational and food scarcity in several disadvantaged East African communities. The AKF has partnered with organizations in rural regions of Kenya and Tanzania to augment their economic capacity. Programs in Kenya have built over 120 dams and small farm reservoirs to increase water accessibility, along with water pipes for schools and hospitals. Programs in Tanzania have focused on helping to train farmers on sustainable agricultural practices to battle harsh and unpredictable climate.[10]
Aga Khan IV succeeded to the office of the 49th hereditary Imam as spiritual and administrative leader of the Shia faith-rooted Nizari Isma'ili Muslim supranational union in 1957.[11] Ismailis consist of an estimated 25 to 30 million adherents (about 20% of the world's Shia Muslim population).[12] [13] [14] [15]
The Aga Khan Development Network states that its mandate is to improve the quality of life for the most vulnerable. This mandate guides the network of AKDN institutions active in more than 35 underdeveloped countries to provide support in the fields of health care, education, and economics.
The functions and philosophy of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) according to the organisation are quoted below:
The AKDN partners with like-minded institutions in the design, implementation, and funding of innovative development projects.[16] Partners included governments of many nations: Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Denmark, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, in Europe, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, United Kingdom and many governmental agencies in the United States.
The AKDN is one of the first Global Alliance Founding Partners, that will be providing funding for the Earthshot Prize, launched in October 2020 by Prince William in partnership with Sir David Attenborough through The Royal Foundation.[17] Between 2021 and 2030, five prizes of £1 million will be awarded annually to recipients who identify solutions to global environmental problems.