Executive Brief
Regional Director, North America (Programs and Partnerships)
Aga Khan Foundation Canada
About Aga Khan Foundation
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a leading global development organization working to address the root causes of poverty.
For more than 50 years, AKF has helped create strong community institutions that support sustainable, locally driven initiatives to improve the lives of millions of people.
Rooted in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, AKF's staff possesses unique insights into the complex challenges people face today, as well as the opportunities for tomorrow. By combining local knowledge with global best practices, AKF strives to bring about transformative and long-lasting improvements to the quality of life. Taking a generational approach, the Foundation has built the trust required to carry out this work even in the most fragile contexts.
AKF's programs aim to ensure infants have the best possible start in life; families are healthy and well-nourished; children and young people can access quality learning opportunities and grow to fulfill their potential; and adults can develop future-facing skills to gain employment or start their own businesses. AKF believes women and girls should not be limited in their choices or opportunities and is dedicated to fostering inclusive communities in which all voices are heard and valued. As the climate changes, the Foundation is working with the communities they serve, especially farmers, to adapt to their challenges and opportunities and contribute to a healthy planet.
But global issues are evolving rapidly, and to meet them, the Foundation uses innovation to empower communities to develop new solutions that can be quickly tested and refined to ensure they are relevant, feasible, and sustainable.
In North America, AKF undertakes a range of initiatives to engage Canadians and Americans in global development, channel skills and expertise to support programs overseas, and promote learning and knowledge exchange on development topics. AKF's longstanding relationships with individual supporters, the private sector, academic institutions, like-minded organizations, and government in Canada and the United States make AKF’s work possible.
Working alongside the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network – comprising hospitals, schools, universities, businesses, and climate and cultural programs around the world – AKF has access to a unique breadth of resources and in-depth know-how. Through partnerships with local communities, civil society, and businesses, as well as governments and international aid agencies, the Foundation is working to expand opportunity for everyone and build a future where we all thrive together.
For more information on programs and thematic areas, visit the following video playlists:
AKF's Areas of Thematic Focus
Agriculture and Food Security
Laying the foundations for prosperous and sustainable farming and a hunger-free world.
AKF works with men and women farmers across mountains, plains, and coastal areas to sustainably enhance agriculture, aquaculture, and livestock production while improving food and nutritional security and incomes. Alongside their partners and community organizations, AKF improves access to knowledge, skills, technology, low-cost agricultural inputs, and markets through integrated value chain development, all the while ensuring that natural resources like soil, water, pasturelands, and forests are conserved and managed equitably. The Foundation also builds and rehabilitates infrastructure to provide access to water, energy, and markets and conserve soil. They help thousands of farmers become climate-resilient. AKF's programs benefit millions of people worldwide, including over 600,000 farmers practicing climate-smart agriculture.
Climate Resilience
Supporting communities to address the challenges and opportunities of climate change and contribute to a healthy planet.
AKF collaborates with communities to strengthen their resilience to climate change, ensuring they not only survive but thrive. AKF's approach is founded on developing local understanding and ownership in combination with scientific knowledge and co-creating interventions for mitigation and adaptation, such as renewable energy, biodiversity promotion, sustainable water management, forest and mangrove regeneration, and soil sequestration. AKF is currently working with more than 600,000 farmers, assisting them in transitioning to regenerative agriculture, and with 12,000 local resource management institutions. Each year, AKF plants millions of trees, restores tens of thousands of hectares of land and natural resources assets, and generates clean and reliable electricity for over 30,000 people. Additionally, AKF is preparing the next generation for climate challenges by promoting climate education for children and youth.
Early Childhood Development
Giving girls and boys the best possible start in life.
AKF empowers caregivers, families, communities, health, and education services and institutions to create joyful, equitable, and sustainable Early Childhood Development (ECD) environments for the holistic development and well-being of young children. The Foundation focuses on enhancing caregiver, family, and community support, increasing access to quality ECD services, and strengthening ECD workforce and institutions. AKF's ECD programs annually benefit more than 2 million children (aged 0 – 6 years), over 1 million caregivers, and over 78,000 members of the ECD workforce.
Education
Enabling children and young people to learn, fulfill their potential, and interact effectively with the world.
AKF works with teachers, students, parents, communities and partners, including policy-makers, to equip girls and boys with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to build a better future and contribute to society. The Foundation focuses on increasing access to quality learning opportunities by creating more enabling learning pathways for students; supporting more teachers and educators to be leaders, innovators, and active agents in education reform and; enhancing more transformative, equitable and inclusive education systems for all. AKF program currently benefit nearly 1 million learners and 27,000 teachers at over 3,500 government and community schools.
Civil Society
Strengthening inclusive communities built on shared values and collective action.
Successful communities need vibrant local networks, resilient institutions, and people ready to engage and contribute. AKF works with civil society groups to strengthen values-based societies, enhance civic institutions, and increase participation of all people. AKF’s civil society partners design and implement activities across AKF's thematic areas, ensuring their responsiveness to community needs and aspirations. Globally, the Foundation has long term partnerships with over 50,000 civil society organizations (around 40% women led), which, in turn, serve more than 10 million people.
Health and Nutrition
Enabling individuals and communities to optimize their health and well-being and live life to the full.
AKF works with households, communities, governments, and a vast partner network to enable people to be healthy and stay healthy: especially women of childbearing age, vulnerable children under five, and adolescents navigating the complex pathway to adulthood. AKF focuses on strengthening population and community health, addressing health and nutrition inequalities, and improving access to, and utilization of, integrated health services, while also addressing the broader determinants that impact on health and nutrition outcomes. Worldwide, the Foundation currently supports health and nutrition and water and sanitation programs and services that reach over 8 million people.
Work and Enterprise
Empowering people – especially the young – to access economic opportunities and create sustainable, prosperous futures.
AKF works with a wide network of partners to help communities tackle economic exclusion and unemployment and improve the economic well-being of women and men, particularly youth. AKF focuses its support on promoting in-demand, future-facing skills and work opportunities, while promoting local entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through training, mentoring, and access to finance. AKF’s flagship enterprise development initiative, Accelerate Prosperity, has already boosted more than 3,400 small and growing businesses, while its employable skills program and Future of Work initiative - which seeks to prepare youth for digital and green jobs - is benefiting more than 20,000 individuals per year, over half of whom are women.
