The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has been building one such springboard at a World Heritage Site in Delhi, home to centuries of Islamic architecture. In 2007, AKTC partnered with the Government of India to restore Humayun's Tomb and its gardens, rehabilitate the adjacent Sunder Nursery as a city park, and upgrade the neighbouring Nizamuddin area through social and cultural programmes.

Let’s see what happened.

When the project started, almost half the children in the area were found to be underweight, one in four households lacked a home toilet and under 60 percent of babies were delivered in medical facilities. AKTC combined nutrition, health and hygiene interventions in an effort to significantly improve lives.

AKTC supported government early childhood centres to include nutrition awareness, and engaged young mothers to prepare healthy traditional snacks. Household, public and school toilets were built to improve hygiene and sanitation.

Fifty women were trained to identify health concerns, with a focus on mothers and children. They are working to link the community with the health system and encourage healthier practices. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi set up a health clinic, for which AKTC hired doctors, provided medical equipment and established a patient record and monitoring system. The clinic has attracted 700,000 patients – despite fewer than 20,000 people living in the area.

In Nizamuddin, less than one in a hundred local residents had visited a park within the past year. Now they use neighbourhood parks created by AKTC, including one reserved for women.

At Sunder Nursery, a 90-acre city park in the heart of Delhi, over 20,000 saplings have been planted and natural habitats created for birds and butterflies. The park also hosts environmental education programmes, inspiring visiting schoolchildren with its lush greenery and rich biodiversity.

With no system of domestic waste collection, AKTC was removing 400 truckloads of refuse annually from the river-turned-drain. Now there’s a system to collect and dispose of waste from 1,800 households, who each contribute to its financial sustainability. Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the 14th-century step-well is providing a much-needed water reservoir for the community.

From early childhood health to engaging youth through their heritage, this work is about tomorrow. Over 10,000 children have received education, from preschool programmes to primary instruction in the restored school. Seven hundred children took two years of intensive English tuition. Over 3,000 youth received vocational training in subjects such as computing and plumbing, with two thirds soon finding paid work.

The community remains involved in everything from the design of sanitation facilities to the implementation of health awareness programmes. AKTC is mentoring a community association, with maintenance plans in place to keep the programmes running for future generations.

Work has spread beyond the site to encompass the restoration of 60 monuments across 100 hectares of land. Building conservation and landscape restoration has taken over 1.5 million days of work by master artisans, who have generated income and developed their skills for future use.

A youth heritage group shares oral histories during guided tours, for a small fee. Maintaining the buildings and gardens provides ongoing employment, while entrepreneurial women have a captive market for their food and craft products.

See how restoring cultural heritage drives economic growth.

Whether helping plan and sustain the improvements brought by urban renewal, taking the lead in advising their community on health and nutrition, or setting up new businesses, women are at the forefront of the project.

AKTC provided 200 women with training in stitching and embroidery, helping them set up three craft enterprises to make an income from souvenir production. Mothers engaged to prepare snacks for children now own a food truck at Sunder Nursery, catering to tourists.

Infrastructure improvements can also revolutionise lives. Working with the community, AKTC created secure public toilets and a women’s park to enhance women’s inclusion in public life.

The use of traditional techniques and materials involved training conservation professionals and artisans from across India, reviving lost building crafts across the country. How were the repairs carried out?

Theatre and craft workshops incorporate today’s culture. Performance spaces have been created for local musicians. The legacy of Amir Khusrau, who started the Qawwali music tradition in the 13th century, is being celebrated through festivals, discussions, publications and recordings.

The complex draws tourists, multifaith pilgrims and half a million schoolchildren a year, eager to explore their heritage. Now, their journey begins at a new museum – a cultural gateway to Humayun’s Tomb and 700 years of history. The sunken Humayun World Heritage Site Museum showcases 500 never-before-displayed artefacts, immersing visitors in the world of the Mughal Emperor and revealing the pluralist Sufi cultural traditions that defined five centuries of Indian culture.