The month in pictures: October

In Diamer district, students and teachers from a local Madrasah (Islamic seminary) pray around a newly planted poplar tree. The tree is one of 10,000 planted by the community on the Madrasah’s barren land, facilitated by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) Pakistan. This region is one of the most climate-vulnerable areas of northern Pakistan; here, AKRSP plans to plant five million trees from 2022 to 2027 in collaboration with communities and community institutions.

Muradiljon Akhmadzhanov is a veterinary technician who specialises in animal treatment for livestock, like cattle, and artificial insemination. He has been building his veterinary skills since 2016, with support from AKF’s Local Impact programme. In Kyrgyz Republic’s rural regions, enhancing veterinary expertise is a pathway towards economic inclusion, creating a dual impact: providing secure employment opportunities for veterinarians in training like Muradiljon, while giving livestock farmers access to essential animal care and breeding support. Muradiljon explains, “Instead of keeping five ordinary cows, it’s better to keep three improved breed cows. This way, we can maintain income while reducing the negative impact on pastures, ecology, and the climate.”

“Gardening is one of my favourite hobbies,” says Muhammad Aman. “I love nurturing and nourishing fruit trees; they are like my babies. This is the first fruit garden in our area, and I will try to make sure they are growing day by day.” In Badakhshan’s remote Shugnan district, AKF is supporting agriculture-based livelihoods to improve food security and address poverty levels in the area. Community members like Muhammad Aman are growing fruit gardens, keeping livestock, and restoring agricultural land.

Kaleem Ullah and his mother, Jamjur, tend to a small plantation of vegetables in their garden. The produce they grow helps Jamjur feed her young family healthy and nutritious meals. They are participants of the Central Asia Stunting Initiative (CASI) run by Aga Khan Health Service and AKF. CASI is currently partnered with 475 remote communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan to prevent as well as treat stunting and improve nutrition.

On the roadside of Salamieh’s main streets, AKF is facilitating the planting of drought-resistant trees. Not only is this creating a greener, more attractive environment for residents, but it is also enhancing climate resilience as the trees help to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A young girl holds a harvest of fresh tomatoes grown in her family’s greenhouse. The greenhouse was established under AKF’s Central Asia Poverty programme, which supports households to promote sustainable agriculture, improve food security, and nurture new livelihood opportunities. Greenhouses enable families like hers to grow healthy fruit and vegetables year-round, which they sell or keep to cook at home.

Through AKF’s Foundations for Learning programme, School Community Design Teams in Kenya’s Kilifi and Kwale counties are working to find solutions to gender barriers in education. During an event hosted by AKF earlier this month, design teams came together to discuss solutions to improve school attendance, parental engagement, and educational quality. Afterwards, the teams had the opportunity to showcase their innovations with school Board of Management members, with a view to scaling them across schools in both counties.

Badakhshan is one of Afghanistan’s most remote provinces, sitting in the northeast corner of the country, bordering with Tajikistan. The province is characterised by mountain terrains, arid land, and is prone to flash floods and landslides, impacting livelihoods opportunities for its residents. Here, AKF supports quality of life through the provision of agriculture inputs, supporting communities to plant fruit gardens, delivering training in employable skills and climate resilient practices, facilitating community-led financial services, and restoring and building roads and bridges.

Members of AKF’s Maendeleo team (left to right: Japhet, Grace, Kulwa, and Ibrahim), pose in a kitchen garden run by a local school. Through Maendeleo, AKF’s regenerative farming initiative in East Africa, teachers from the school have learned various sustainable agriculture techniques, using them to grow organic food. The produce is used for lunches at school or, if there is enough, is sold to the wider community.

Learners participate in a workshop on ‘FinTech – the future of retail and corporate banking’ at the Aga Khan Centre in London. The workshop formed a part of the 2024 illuminate lecture – an annual programme delivered by the Aga Khan Foundation UK that offers participating students an insight into transformational ideas shaping our world today, and which hopes to inspire a new generation of change-makers.

AKF’s Learning Hub team collected their bronze award in the Technology for Good category at the Global Good Awards in London. In its tenth year, the Global Good Awards is an international initiative that recognises organisations and individuals committed to sustainability, social impact, and ethical leadership. The Learning Hub was recognised for the work that it does with communities around the world, bringing access to learning to people across 197 different countries – and counting!