FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN
His Highness the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
His Highness the Aga Khan, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, Maître André Ardoin, Guillaume de Spoelberch.
ESTABLISHED
Head Office – Geneva, Switzerland (1967), Pakistan (1969), United Kingdom (1973), Kenya (1974), India (1978), Bangladesh (1980), Canada (1980), United States of America (1981), Portugal (1983), Tanzania (1991), Uganda (1992), Tajikistan (1995), Mozambique (2000), Kyrgyz Republic (2003), Afghanistan (2003), Syria (2003), Egypt (2006), Madagascar (2006).
ORGANISATION
Private, not-for-profit, non-denominational, development agency. Part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of nine institutions working in health, education, culture and rural and economic development.
PURPOSE
AKF seeks sustainable solutions to longterm problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill-health with special emphasis on the needs of rural communities in mountainous, coastal and other resource-poor areas.
PROGRAMME PRIORITIES
Education, rural development, health, civil society and the environment, with particular emphasis on community participation, gender, pluralism and human resource development.
GRANTEES
Grants are normally made to nongovermental organisations that share the Foundation’s goals. In some cases, where there is no appropriate partner, the Foundation may help to create a new civil society organisation or may manage
projects directly. Grantees are selected without regard to origin, religion, gender or political association.
STAFF
2,750 worldwide. AKF attempts, as a management principle, to develop local human resource capacity and most AKF employees are nationals of the countries where AKF offices are located.
GOALS
There are four central objectives:
• Make it possible for poor people to act in ways that will lead to long-term
improvements in their income and health, in the environment and in the education of their children;
• Provide communities with a greater range of choices and the understanding
necessary to take informed action;
• Enable beneficiaries to gain the confidence and competence to participate in the design, implementation and continuing operation of activities that affect the quality of their lives;
• Put institutional, management and financial structures in place ensuring that
programme activities are sustainable without Foundation assistance within a
reasonable time frame.
SOURCES OF FUNDING AND ENDOWMENT
His Highness the Aga Khan, grants from development agencies, income from the endowment and donations from individuals and corporations.
EVALUATION
Major projects are evaluated by independent professionals, in many cases in partnership with the agencies that co-fund them.
Ismailimail 