2015 Program Highlights
The Foundation’s 2015 Program Highlights features stories about improving quality of life through our Multi-Input Area Development Global Development Alliance (MIAD GDA) in Afghanistan, fostering girls’ science education with Intel, and supporting community philanthropy in Kenya. These programs help break the cycle of poverty and create meaningful, lasting change. This work is possible because thousands of donors […]
Women Who Inspire: Oistamo Mamadsaidova and a Brighter Future
This blog is the fifth in our series of stories of “Women Who Inspire” for International Women’s Day 2014. Oistamo Mamadsaidova works with an electric utility in the mountains of Central Asia and knows firsthand the difference that access to electricity makes for women’s lives there. She has been with the Aga Khan Development Network […]
Pamir Energy Revives One Country’s Electric Grid and Reaches Across Borders to Others
It’s a long way from Tajikistan to upstate New York but Madina Kuranova, Special Projects Manager for Pamir Energy, an electric utility in Tajikistan, made the trip this year to Cornell University to study as a Humphrey Fellow. That made it possible for Kuranova to visit Washington, DC recently, where she stopped by the office […]
CEO Notes: Governance and Reaching the Poorest in Fragile States
At the annual conference of the Society for International Development’s Washington chapter, Dr. Mirza Jahani, CEO of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., was invited to say a few words on governance issues in development. Here are his reflections on that experience: This year, various reviews of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) allow all of us involved […]
Partnering for a Better Future in Wakhan
On July 12, the Washington Post published an article about Afghanistan’s Wakhan district, saying that despite the large influx of international aide to Afghanistan, this isolated district has been largely ignored by the donor community. The article brings up many good points about the immense challenges that still need to be overcome in Wakhan, however, […]
Aga Khan Development Network and the Synergos Institute Partner to Implement Activities in Central Asia as Part of the Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship
WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 1, 2013. Today the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) announced a grant to the Synergos Institute to work in partnership to advance social entrepreneurship in Central Asia as a path to social and economic development for the region. Synergos and the AKDN will implement activities through the Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, a three-year […]
Cross-Border Education Bridges Communities in Central Asia
In May 2012, Natalie Ross, AKF USA’s Program Associate for Civil Society and Youth, visited the Cross-Border Vocational Education in Badakhshan (CVEB) program of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Tajikistan. When you travel by road from the Tajik capital of Dushanbe to the mountainous Eastern Gorno-Badahkshan province in Tajikistan, you spend hours looking […]
Theater Prepares Afghans for Natural Disasters
In many communities around the world it’s very hard for people to consider disaster preparedness as a priority. In an Afghan village where families spend many of their waking hours just trying to survive — whether it’s collecting water or working on their fields — not much time is spent thinking about preparing for natural […]
Pamir Energy
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a five-year civil war, Tajikistan’s electrical infrastructure required major investment. Among the most affected areas was the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), where people and businesses suffered during the cold winter months. The lack of electricity for heating resulted in the closure of schools, health centers […]
Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index
Supporting the Enabling Environment for Local Civil Society The Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) is a tool created by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1997 to assess the sustainability of the civil society sector in 29 countries in Europe and Eurasia. Since 2009, the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. (AKF USA) has joined USAID in funding […]