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2008 Theme: planting our future

Our 2008 theme, “Planting Our Future,” spotlights the extraordinary success, expansion, and impact of rural support programs pioneered by the Aga Khan Foundation. It embraces the time-tested principle of helping people to help themselves. Aga Khan Rural Support Programme exemplifies the power of partnerships in planting hope and opportunity through grassroots community participation.

Since its inception in 1981, Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. (AKF USA) has focused on planting hope in the lives of people in the developing world in the areas of health, education, rural development, civil society, and the environment.

The story of Aga Khan Foundation’s rural support programs brings to light the power of partnerships and reflects the Foundation’s enduring commitment to community participation and grassroots democracy. Initiated in northern Pakistan in 1982, the program has since expanded to nine other countries.

Planting Seeds of Peace and Prosperity Rooted in Communities

Over a quarter century ago, AKF began an ambitious experiment in the remote and extremely poor region of northern Pakistan. For centuries the economy was mainly dependent on the barter system. Poverty was widespread with average income at only $150 per year. Only one person in ten could read. Health care was regressive, with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.

To reverse the deplorable trends, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) organized small, subsistence farmers and communities, living in the harsh mountain regions, into democratic village institutions where men and women plan the future of their communities to improve their quality of life. Beyond planting better crops, the program seeks to plant better ideas, grounded in hope and courage.

To date, over 4,300 village and women organizations have been formed in northern Pakistan to take the lead and solve problems collectively. The village organizations are grassroots decisionmaking bodies, giving people greater voice and choice in deciding their own futures.

Growth through the Power of Partnerships

AKRSP highlights the power of partnerships for achieving greater self-reliance. Partnerships between AKRSP and village organizations have empowered communities through participation, decision-making, training and capacity building. Villagers themselves identify and prioritize activities that will provide a stream of benefits to the majority of community members.

AKRSP serves as a catalyst to help organize the communities around sustainable economic activities that help increase incomes and generate tangible benefits. Village organizations are inclusive and broad-based and women are actively involved, including in leadership positions. As a rule, at least 80 percent of a village’s families are represented in the village organization. This standard helps bridge any demographic fissures and conflicts that may exist along the lines of ethnicity or religion and ensures that a village organization is not dominated by village elites.

The Ripple Effect

AKRSP has gained international recognition and acknowledgement as the Foundation’s flagship program. Nine other rural support programs in Pakistan operated by other development organizations were inspired by an approach borne out of the efforts of poverty-stricken communities in the isolated mountains of northern Pakistan. Many development organizations working with poor communities around the world now use the AKRSP approach. The program’s community-led approach in Pakistan has been so successful that AKF adapted it to other countries including Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Syria and Tajikistan. Today, 2.5 million people have benefited directly from the Foundation’s rural support programs worldwide, with indirect beneficiaries reaching close to 12 million in over 8,400 village organizations.

The Blossoming of Achievements

Communities in northern Pakistan have made huge strides to overcome the challenges of limited incomes, poor health care, inadequate education, low agricultural output and barriers to markets. Since the early 1980s:

• Incomes have more than tripled.
• 2.5 million people have benefited.
• 2,200 infrastructure projects have been constructed: irrigation channels, mini-hydro power plants, bridges and roads that open up greater opportunities for commerce and agricultural productivity.
• AKRSP’s credit and savings initiative has generated savings of more than $9 million and has provided micro-loans to more than 100,000 households since 1982.
• Women’s status has advanced through improved educational opportunities and participation in local organizations.
• Infant mortality rate has been reduced to 35 per 1,000 from 160-250 per 1,000 live births per year.
• Farmers turned 120,000 acres of barren land into productive pastures, expanding cultivated land area by over one third.
• Over 4 million fruit trees were planted and 1,500 private forest nurseries established.

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