What is AKDN and how it was formed?

When I became Imam in 1957, I was faced with developing a system to meet my responsibilities in an organised and sustainable manner that was suited to the circumstances, demands and opportunities of the second half of the twentieth century. … This led me to establish what is now the Aga Khan Development Network (the AKDN), a group of eight agencies with individual mandates, to engage in critical dimensions of development from distinct yet complementary perspectives and the competencies they require. The Network is active in the fields of health, education, civil society enhancement, culture, and economic and rural development, and now has more than three decades of experience working in South Asia and Eastern and Western Africa, and since 1993, has been active in Central Asia…..The Network’s newest engagement is a major commitment to reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.

— Mawlana Hazar Imam,
Annual Meeting of The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, May 5, 2003