Institute for Human Development Aga Khan University

Message from the Director On behalf of the large number of faculty and other professional colleagues across the wider Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) who will be part of this Institute, I am pleased to welcome you to our website. The Institute is nested within the University, which is, in turn, embedded within the wider AKDN. Thus as this site develops, its contents and stakeholder interests will expand to encompass the wide array of human development research and field programmes being pursued by faculty and other professionals within academic and non-academic entities across AKU's campuses and AKDN’s other spheres of operations. We welcome and will actively cultivate collaborations and partnerships with local service provider institutions, global multilateral organizations, and donor agencies—all for the purpose of positioning the institute to make a meaningful and practical impact, particularly on children, families, and communities in limited-resource and marginalized settings. We will work particularly with global organizations like the World Health Organizations, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Early Child Development Action Network (ECDAN), and with donor agencies with significant footprint in the ECD landscape, to help translate global policies and guidelines into action. Mindful of the limited research capacity in the Majority World, we are committed to creating an environment and seeking resources to prepare the next generations of child/human development research professionals. The research education we provide will include a significant focus on academic researchers’ ability to translate and communicate findings in accessible language to the benefit of policy makers, practitioners, and donor agencies yearning for sound research to make impactful contributions in the “real world.” We ask for your support to build the Institute to make its work relevant to the lives of people at all levels of the life span, but to particularly build strong foundations for the development and wellbeing of children in the earliest years of life. Dr. Kofi Marfo, Professor and Foundation Director "The future of human society rests on the shoulders of our children. We better invest in the well-being of our children now or there is no future to talk about" (Marfo, circa 2015)