Building opportunity across generations
From education and youth development to rural prosperity and cultural heritage, a century of partnership is helping communities thrive across India
India · · 12 min
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
By 2047 – the centenary of its independence – India has set itself a defining goal: to become Viksit Bharat, a fully developed nation, with a stronger economy, greater global standing and a better quality of life for all its citizens.
For the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), whose engagement with India dates back to 1905, these priorities are familiar. Over more than a century, AKDN has worked in close collaboration with governments and communities in India to address a broad spectrum of development challenges – including education and youth skilling, rural development and livelihoods, health care, drinking water and sanitation, urban development and access to finance for underserved communities, as well as cultural revitalisation.
AKDN in India: 120 years
- Institutional
- Education and health
- Rural and climate
- Culture and heritage
- Economic development
Sources: the.akdn, akf.org, akrspindia.org.in, akahindia.org, agakhanacademies.org, qutbshahiheritagepark.org.
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First Aga Khan school opens
Mundra, Gujarat. Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III founds one of the first Aga Khan schools. It is still teaching today.
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Ismailia General Hospital opens
Mumbai. A 16-bed ward opens in a rented Dongri flat on 30 June. It later became Prince Aly Khan Hospital.
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AKF begins work in India
New Delhi. AKF opens in India. It now works on agriculture, education, early years, health and economic inclusion across six states.
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Aga Khan Preschools start in Gujarat
Gujarat. AKDN launches the Rural Education Advancement Programme for the children of first-generation learners. It now runs 19 preschools.
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AKRSP(I) founded in Gujarat
Gujarat. Aga Khan IV conceives a professional agency to help rural communities organise and raise their own quality of life. It has since reached over 3.5 million people.
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First field offices open in Gujarat
Netrang, Chotila and Veraval. AKDN sets up its first rural field teams. Early work focuses on lift irrigation and percolation tanks for farmers.
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India adopts Joint Forest Management
India. Government guidelines bring communities into forest protection and benefit sharing, following sustained advocacy by AKDN.
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Gujarat backs participatory irrigation
Gujarat. The state passes a resolution promoting participatory irrigation management, after AKDN forms canal societies run by the farmers who use the water. In 2025 alone, AKDN supported around 6,100 community organisations.
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DCB Bank becomes a commercial bank
Mumbai. Co-operative banks formed in the 1930s to serve small traders convert into a scheduled commercial bank, promoted by AKDN. By 2026 it served 3.2 million customers through 480 branches.
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A gift for India's 50th anniversary
Delhi. Aga Khan IV offers to renew the gardens of Humayun's Tomb to mark 50 years of Indian independence.
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Habitat and disaster work begins
New Delhi. AKDN registers Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, India, now the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat. AKDN agencies have since helped build over 170,000 sanitation units in India.
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Earthquake relief in Gujarat
Gujarat. After the January earthquake, AKDN turns to relief, running construction and food support alongside its long-term rural development work.
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Work expands beyond Gujarat
Madhya Pradesh. AKDN begins work in tribal districts, followed by flood-prone districts of Bihar in 2007 and the Dangs in Gujarat in 2010.
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Humayun's Tomb partnership signed
Delhi. A partnership between AKDN, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Central Public Works Department extends the work from the gardens to the tomb itself.
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Nirmal Gram Award for a Gujarat village
Karan, Gujarat. The village of 130 families wins India's Nirmal Gram cleanliness award after AKDN helps install a toilet in every home and underground sewerage.
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Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative begins
Delhi. A public-private partnership links conservation at Humayun's Tomb, Sunder Nursery and the Nizamuddin Basti with health, education and livelihoods for residents.
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Yuva Junction opens for rural youth
Gujarat. AKDN launches a skills and enterprise programme for people aged 18 to 35. It now runs 28 youth centres across 10 districts in Gujarat and Bihar.
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Aga Khan Academy opens in Hyderabad
Hyderabad. The Academy teaches the International Baccalaureate on a merit-based, needs-blind basis. Its research centre now runs teacher training across Telangana.
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Buniyaad reaches 400,000 young mothers
Bihar. Over two years, AKDN's Buniyaad programme reaches 400,000 young mothers with guidance on early and exclusive breastfeeding and age-appropriate feeding after six months.
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Nizamuddin Baoli conservation wins HUDCO prize
Delhi. The restoration of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Baoli, a step-well over seven centuries old with collapsed sections, takes second prize in HUDCO's heritage conservation category.
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Qutb Shahi conservation begins
Hyderabad. AKDN signs a 10-year agreement with Telangana authorities in January to conserve the 106-acre necropolis, now India's largest conservation programme at a single site.
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Restored Humayun's Tomb inaugurated
Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates the restored garden tomb on 18 September, with Aga Khan IV present.
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Earth Care Award for climate work
Bharuch, Surat and Narmada. AKDN wins the Earth Care Award for community-based climate adaptation in tribal districts of Gujarat, from JSW Foundation and the Times of India.
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Project Lehar launched
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. AKF begins work with girls aged 16 to 29 and their families on life skills and gender norms. It has since supported more than 15,000 girls.
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Times of India Social Impact Award
India. AKDN is one of two winners in the environment category, non-governmental section, of the Times of India Social Impact Awards.
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Aga Khan IV receives the Padma Vibhushan
New Delhi. President Pranab Mukherjee presents one of India's highest civilian decorations on 8 April, for contributions to social development in the country.
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Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative launched
India. AKDN agencies launch a joint sanitation programme supporting the Clean India Mission and its pledge to end open defecation by 2019.
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Pashu Sakhis begin veterinary work
Bihar. Pashu Sakhis are women paravets who charge a fee for preventive goat health care. Working with the state rural livelihoods mission, AKDN had trained 6,000 by 2025, reaching 700,000 women.
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National sanitation award for AKDN
Delhi. The FICCI India Sanitation Coalition prize goes to AKDN's block-level sanitation model in rural Bihar. The initiative reached over 700,000 people in six states.
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Sunder Nursery opens as a city park
Delhi. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Aga Khan IV inaugurate the 90-acre park on 21 February. Time magazine names Delhi's first arboretum one of the world's 100 greatest places.
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Aga Khan IV meets Prime Minister Modi
New Delhi. The two discuss areas of mutual interest on 21 February, during a 10-day official visit at the Government of India's invitation.
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Sunder Nursery joins Great Gardens of the World
Delhi. Rado's Great Gardens of the World website features Sunder Nursery, placing the Delhi park alongside internationally recognised historic gardens.
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Sunder Nursery wins two UNESCO awards
Delhi. UNESCO gives Sunder Nursery its Asia-Pacific Award for Excellence and the first Special Recognition for Sustainable Development. Monocle and the Merit List also name it that year.
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Covid response commended in Nizamuddin
Delhi. AKDN is highly commended at the World Responsible Tourism Awards for mobilising health workers, supplying relief to 700 families a week and distributing locally made masks.
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Nizamuddin named best social impact project
Delhi. Outlook's Indian Responsible Tourism Awards name the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Project best social impact project, citing gains for residents alongside tourism.
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Coastal risk reduction work expands
Coastal India. The Coastal Risk Reduction Project rehabilitates or builds 522 water bodies in areas prone to floods, cyclones and tsunamis. School safety work had reached 50,000 students and staff by 2026.
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UNESCO honours Nizamuddin Basti
Delhi. The same two UNESCO awards go to the revitalisation of Nizamuddin Basti, where conservation was paired with new jobs, craft revival and a better urban environment.
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Mangrove restoration begins
Gandhavi, Devbhumi Dwarka. AKDN starts planting Avicennia marina mangroves with the local community, protecting the coast from erosion and salinity.
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UNESCO Award of Distinction for Qutb Shahi step-wells
Hyderabad. The restoration of six step-wells at the Quli Qutb Shah tomb complex receives a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Distinction.
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CSR award for water and sanitation work
Maharashtra. AKDN receives a certificate of recognition at the CSR Impact Awards for work with eight villages to improve water availability and sanitation for over 12,000 people.
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Arti wins Amal Clooney Women's Empowerment Award
Uttar Pradesh. Arti left school at 13. Through AKF's Project Lehar she joined the government pink e-rickshaw scheme and now earns INR 15,000 a month.
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Qutb Shahi Heritage Park completed
Hyderabad. Prince Rahim (now His Highness Aga Khan V) and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy inaugurate the restored 106-acre park on 28 July, after more than a decade of conservation.
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Humayun's Tomb site museum opens
New Delhi. Prince Rahim (now His Highness Aga Khan V) and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat open India's first sunken museum at a World Heritage Site on 29 July.
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Prince Rahim becomes Aga Khan V
India and worldwide. Prince Rahim succeeds his father as 50th hereditary Imam and Chair of AKDN on 5 February, having served for years on the boards of its agencies.
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ECD programmes reach 2.2 million children
Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. In 2025 alone, AKF's early childhood development programmes reached nearly 2.2 million children, working through preschools, parents and health workers.
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Two million reached by nutrition programmes
India. In 2025 alone, around two million children, adolescents and pregnant women received nutritional screening and counselling through AKF's health programme.
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Naina wins Amal Clooney Women's Empowerment Award
Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh. Withdrawn from school, Naina studied at night by lamplight. She joined AKF's Project Lehar, returned to education and now mentors girls in her village.
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Conservation begins at Gwalior Fort
Gwalior. AKDN begins work on the palaces of Gwalior Fort, with a new site exhibition and museum planned to show the fort's history, art and architecture.
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World leaders tour Humayun's Tomb
New Delhi. During the India AI Impact Summit in February, AKDN hosts the UN Secretary General, the IMF Managing Director and delegations from four countries.
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Aga Khan V visits India
India. Aga Khan V undertakes an official visit from 9 to 15 September, at the Indian Government's invitation. It is his first to the country as Imam.
Educating future generations
Beginning with a single classroom in Mundra in 1905 – and which coincided with a wave of schools built by Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan III around the world at the turn of the century – education, and a focus on young people, became the foundation of this enduring partnership.
Working from the premise that access to education is the cornerstone of social and economic development for individuals, communities and countries alike, the Ismaili Imamat and AKDN took a long-term, generational approach.
Today, more than 120 years after the first classroom was opened, the Aga Khan Schools (AKS) educates more than 8,500 children per year through a network of 19 preschools, eight day schools and one residential school – the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad – as well as a hostel across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana, offering students quality and pluralistic schooling from nursery until matriculation in both rural and urban communities. Graduates have gone on to leading universities in India and abroad, and AKS’s partnership with FLAME University is creating new pathways to higher education.
Educational initiatives are also implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) in India, where a holistic approach has seen more than 2.2 million children reached through Early Childhood Development programmes in Telangana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with almost 500 teachers engaged and over 45,000 students benefitted through Schools2030, AKF’s flagship education initiative in Bihar.
AKDN takes an integrated approach to education in India, expanding access to quality learning opportunities while supporting government institutions to strengthen public schools.
AKDN / Mansi Midha
Creating opportunities for youth
With India being home to one of the world's largest youth populations, ensuring that young men and women have the skills needed to participate in a rapidly developing economy is central to the efforts and success of Viksit Bharat.
Recognising this need, in 2007 the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) India launched Yuva Junction to support rural youth in gaining the skills, confidence and opportunities required to secure meaningful employment and build sustainable livelihoods.
Operating through training centres in remote and underserved communities, Yuva Junction combines vocational training with digital literacy, basic English, life skills and career preparation. Courses span sectors including retail, business process outsourcing (BPO), computer hardware, nursing, beauty and wellness, and tailoring, while partnerships with industry help connect graduates to employment opportunities.
“Yuva Junction played a vital role in my life,” says Bhavana Bharda, a young woman from Juthal village in the Junagadh District of Gujarat. “It is my mentor and guide... I am more confident today and can talk to people with ease.”
Since implementation, the initiative has trained more than 53,000 young people, like Bhavana, to access pathways that were previously beyond reach. More than 25,000 have secured employment, significantly improving their incomes.
Many young people from farming families want to develop the skills needed to pursue careers beyond agriculture.
AKDN / Mansi Midha
At Yuva Junction, participants develop digital literacy and other skills to improve their prospects of finding employment in the formal workforce.
AKDN / Mansi Midha
Strengthening rural prosperity
Since 1983, when Prince Karim Aga Khan IV envisioned an expert professional agency in India which could facilitate rural communities in improving their lives and livelihoods, AKRSP India has grown to be active in more than 3,255 villages across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Its programmes have reached over 3.5 million people, many from some of India's most underserved communities, with women accounting for more than 60 percent of participants.
In 2015, in recognition of his impact on social development in India, former President His Excellency Pranab Mukherjee awarded the Aga Khan IV the Padma Vibhushan – one of the country’s highest civilian decorations.
Through initiatives supported by AKF, now under the stewardship of His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, this work has continued and expanded. Communities have worked to strengthen agricultural productivity, improve water security and build sustainable livelihoods – efforts that speak directly to another cornerstone of Viksit Bharat: ensuring that economic growth is both inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
One of the clearest examples can be seen in natural farming, an approach that has increasingly gained prominence within India's agricultural policy. By helping farmers move away from costly chemical inputs and towards regenerative methods suited to smallholder agriculture, AKF and AKRSP (India) have supported more than 200,000 farmers to adopt natural farming techniques. Their experience demonstrates, at scale, the potential of practices that improve soil health, strengthen resilience and reduce costs for farming households.
AKRSP supports farming communities to strengthen livelihoods while protecting the natural resources they depend on.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
Preserving the past, building the future
Yet development is not only about education, agriculture and livelihoods. In 2024, IndiGo – India’s largest passenger airline – pledged to support the conservation of Gwalior Fort, parts of which date back to the eighth century. The commitment was formalised through a 2025 agreement between the Government of Madhya Pradesh, IndiGo and Aga Khan Cultural Services, setting in motion the conservation of 45 structures and the restoration of 60 acres of historic gardens over the next decade.
The Gwalior initiative builds on a model of cultural regeneration that AKDN and its partners in India have developed over decades – demonstrating how investment in heritage can have benefits far beyond preservation, driving economic growth and improving quality of life.
In Delhi, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) – alongside the Archaeological Survey of India, the Central Public Works Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and other public and private partners – has spent the past quarter century restoring the Humayun's Tomb-Sunder Nursery-Nizamuddin Basti precinct. The initiative has helped transform the area into one of the capital's most significant cultural destinations, attracting nearly three million visitors annually.
The restoration of Humayun’s Tomb and its gardens has helped transform the historic precinct into one of Delhi’s most significant cultural destinations.
AKTC
In 2024, His Highness the Aga Khan V (then Prince Rahim Aga Khan) and India’s Honourable Minister of Tourism and Culture, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, inaugurated the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum.
AKDN / Nazim Lokhandwala
“Beyond the restoration of the iconic Tomb, its gardens and another 60 monuments – 20 of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” said His Highness the Aga Khan V (then Prince Rahim Aga Khan) at the opening of the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum in 2024, “the Initiative has created the 90-acre Sunder Nursery, has upgraded public open spaces, has improved school and healthcare facilities, has implemented education and health programmes, public sanitation, water and waste management schemes, and has sponsored cultural revival through festivals, concerts and performances.”
His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V
A similar effort has unfolded in Hyderabad, where AKTC has spent more than a decade conserving the 106-acre Qutb Shahi necropolis. Today, it is recognised as India's largest conservation programme focused on a single heritage site, further demonstrating how investment in cultural preservation can also support urban renewal, tourism and public engagement.
“Change is possible”
Perhaps one of the clearest measures of a country’s development, however, is the opportunities available to its next generation of women. Across India, programmes supported by AKF are helping young women overcome barriers to education, employment and participation in public life, enabling them to become agents of change in their own communities.
Among them are Arti and Naina, participants in Project Lehar, an initiative that supports adolescent girls and young women to learn, earn and thrive. In 2024, Arti was recognised with the Amal Clooney Women's Empowerment Award at the King's Trust Awards for her determination to overcome social and economic barriers and forge an independent future. Two years later, Naina, a life-skills facilitator from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, received the same honour in recognition of her work helping girls remain in school, build confidence and pursue their aspirations.
Reflecting on her award earlier in 2026, Naina said: "This recognition reminds me that change is possible. This award is not just mine. It belongs to every girl who is creating positive change in her life and community."
Through their achievements, Arti and Naina embody a vision that has shaped the Ismaili Imamat and AKDN’s engagement in India for more than a century – and one that now resonates with the country’s aspirations to achieve Viksit Bharat by 2047: that lasting development is ultimately about expanding opportunity, unlocking potential and enabling people to shape their own futures.
AKDN in India: areas of activity
AKDN's work in India covers agriculture, schools, health, heritage conservation and disaster preparedness, among others.Select a sector for details.
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Agriculture and food security
390,000 people supported in 2025
AKDN helps communities raise yields, manage water and other natural resources, improve nutrition and adapt to climate change.
Agriculture and food security in India opens in a new window
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Civil society
6,100 organisations supported in 2025
AKDN works with community institutions so they can deliver services, advance gender equality and connect the people they serve to government programmes.
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Cultural development
3 million visitors a year to Humayun's Tomb, Sunder Nursery and the Nizamuddin Basti
AKDN pairs conservation with urban renewal. Restored sites include Humayun's Tomb and gardens, Sunder Nursery, the Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan mausoleum and the Qutb Shahi royal tombs.
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Disaster preparedness and response
50,000 students and staff reached by school safety programmes, as of 2026
AKDN runs training in first aid, fire safety and search and rescue, risk reduction plans for schools and hospitals, and disaster-resistant rebuilding.
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Early childhood development
2.2 million children reached in 2025
AKDN programmes in Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh support parents, health workers and preschool teachers, combining locally relevant curricula with international practice.
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Economic development
9,000 people reached by skills training in 2025
AKDN helps women and young people gain skills, finance and work. It also helped small co-operative societies merge into DCB Bank, now a commercial bank with more than 3.2 million customers.
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Education
8,500 children in AKDN schools
AKDN runs eight schools, 19 preschools, a hostel and the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad, and works with governments, schools and parents on the quality of teaching nationally.
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Habitat
170,000 sanitation units built with AKDN
AKDN supplies materials, expertise, training and construction management for housing, alongside toilet construction and better access to drinking water in resource-poor areas.
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Health
2 million people screened for nutrition in 2025
AKDN works to reach women and children who have limited access to health services, and trains health workers with government and private partners.
