The month in pictures: August

Blessing football pitches in the Kyrgyz Republic, supporting sustainable energy in Syria, and enjoying vibrant chemistry lessons in India: scroll down to catch a glimpse of our work this month.

On 29th August, in the village of Sogment in the Kyrgyz Republic’s Batken region, a mini football pitch was opened. The first game began with the blessings of the village elders. Previously, young people in this village had to travel 40 km to the city of Batken to play football. Now, the residents of Sogment and its neighbouring villages, Charbak, and Gaz, can play whenever they like on a quality pitch. The construction of the pitch was facilitated by AKF to promote healthy habits amongst youth and bring communities together.

Location: Batken, Kyrgyz Republic

Photographer: Evgeniya Usenova

Filmmaker Benj Binks laughs with students at Rasul Akram Primary School on Kenya’s coast, during a content collection trip to Kenya and Uganda facilitated by AKF Canada. On this day, the team were filming a story to celebrate 40 years of the Madrasa Early Childhood Programme (MECP), an initiative that began in the madrasas surrounding Mombasa, and now has expanded to 2,177 schools throughout Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Today, MECP supports 152,107 learners, bringing quality early childhood education to children across East Africa. 

Location: Kwale County, Kenya 

Photographer: Rich Townsend

In the Bergan area in Salamieh district in Syria, Issam Zainou waters his crops using a solar powered pump. Due to climate change, this region experiences much longer, hotter and dryer summers. In the past farmers could find water one metre underground, now they must dig 50-100 metres to find it. Using diesel generators to pump the water from these depths has become prohibitively expensive due to Syria’s 12 year conflict and the subsequent economic crisis. AKF is supporting farmers like Issam to install solar pumps as, of course, the sun is a readily available source of energy. The farmers contribute 30% of the costs and AKF covers the rest. A pump saves each farmer about 6 litres of diesel fuel – or around $9 – a day. 

Location: Salamieh, Syria 

Photographer: Christopher Wilton-Steer

Through AKF’s Holistic Rural Development Programme, schools across rural India are seeing a remarkable transformation. At this upper primary school in Lakhimpur, learners and teachers alike are enjoying their new science lab. Here, chemistry, biology and environmental science lessons have come alive, and students are learning-by-doing through hands-on experiments and other enriching classroom activities. 

Location: Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 

Photographer: Tariq Khan 

Nilufar Qurbonshoeva is one of 16 young people who took part in an appliance repair and maintenance workshop hosted by the University of Central Asia. Supported by USAID under AKF’s Local Impact project, these sessions are designed to train youth in the repair, installation, and maintenance of electrical equipment, enhancing their ability to secure jobs. Since 2021, 121 people (24% women) have graduated from these courses. 

Location: Khorog, Tajikistan 

Photographer: Dilbar Ruzadorova (USAID) 

Ann Nderi, Head of Sustainability & Citizenship at Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) in Kenya, plants a micro-forest sapling during a planting event at DTB Centre in Nairobi. AKF has partnered with DTB to plant 22,000 trees across 70 micro-forests sites in Kenya by the end of 2023, with a view to expanding across the East Africa region next year. Micro-forests are a nature-based solution to climate change and AKF is planting thousands worldwide through its GROW initiative. 

Location: Nairobi, Kenya 

Photographer: Simon Njuguna 

In Barabanki, women and girls have been participating in menstrual hygiene management training led by Prashansha Gupta, a staff member at AKF. During the training, Prashansha promotes effective menstrual hygiene practices and products, leads discussions to break taboos and stigma, and works to nurture a culture of openness and knowledge around women’s health in Indian communities. 

Location: Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India 

Photographer: Tariq Khan 

During a teacher showcase hosted by AKF’s flagship education programme, Schools2030, teachers from Kenya’s coast presented their learning innovations to the wider education community. These low-cost and scalable solutions are designed by teachers to inform and transform education systems to improve holistic learning outcomes for learners. The showcase events are one element of the ‘Tell Your Community’ phase of the process, where teachers use storytelling to communicate about their solutions and why they have the potential to close learning gaps in their communities and beyond. 

Location: Mombasa, Kenya 

Photographer: Isaac Njagi 

In southern Tanzania, AKF hosted a three-day workshop to train AKF staff and government education officers in Value-Based Education (VBE). VBE enables participants to explore and reflect on their personal values and biases, their relationships with others, and their role as educators, community leaders, and role models. During the training, 46 participants – including the heads of regional and district education departments at regional and district levels – gained a deeper understanding of identity, values, and ethics to build and maintain more supportive communities. 

Location: Mtwara, Tanzania 

Photographer: Kaliba Songo