Excerpt: In 1978, the UN invited him to spend a year at its Centre for Regional Development in Nagoya, Japan. After some time, the Unicef approached him to become its senior consultant at Mahaweli Ganga Development Project in Sri Lanka. The roaring success of the project made him a well-known figure and Aga Khan Foundation approached him to head their programme in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.
As Khan Sahib was very sceptical due to his previous experiences he asked Aga Khan about the duration of the project and His Highness replied that it would be for 25 years. With that kind of material and moral support, he started Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and as they say, the rest is history. It changed the lives of nearly a million people and as the World Bank report of that time noted that their income doubled in real terms and there was a visible difference in every social and economic indicator.
Ismailimail 