Aga Khan Foundation Canada

AKFC Seminars on Nurturing Maternal and Child Health
2014-01-23 | Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, 199 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1N 1K6, Canada
The AKFC Seminars on Nurturing Maternal and Child Health were hosted in partnership with the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (CAN-MNCH) from September 2013 to January 2014. This 5-part series of events explored approaches and strategies designed to strengthen health care in developing countries, with a particular focus on maternal and child health.

COMPLETED EVENTS
Friday, September 27, 2013 – Inaugural Event and Webcast: Finishing the Undernutrition Agenda
Event has closed – To watch a recorded webcast, please click here
Undernutrition is an underlying cause of almost half of child deaths in the world each year; undernourished children face a lifetime of consequences, including chronic poor health, mental impairment and economic hardship. In a new series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition, renowned medical journal The Lancet features new data and policy recommendations on global nutrition. The papers are a follow up to the Lancet’s 2008 series, which identified the critical 1,000 days between a mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday as the priority window for impact. Participants joined Series editor Dr. Robert Black and a panel of series authors as they discussed how new evidence and recommendations can deliver better results on nutrition in the world’s poorest countries. Mr. Paul Rochon, Deputy Minister of International Development, also provided remarks. This event was held in partnership with the Micronutrient Initiative (MI). To learn more about The Lancet research series, please click here.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013 – Fortifying Human Capital in the Health Sector
Event has closed – To watch a recorded webcast, please click here
The Aga Khan Foundation Canada Seminars on Nurturing Maternal and Child Health, hosted in partnership with the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, explored approaches and strategies designed to strengthen health care in developing countries, with a particular focus on maternal and child health. The second event of the five-part series focused on:
The availability of qualified health professionals is central to the delivery of effective health care. From administrative support to medical specialists, every level of staff is key. But many developing and fragile states suffer from a lack of trained staff needed to build a coherent health system. Participants joined Jules Zanre, Head of Mali Delegation, Canadian Red Cross, and Anne Wilson, former President, Canadian Association of Midwives, who discussed specific human resource needs in the health sector and strategies to address them.

Thursday, November 14 – Shifting Behaviours: Tools for Better Health Practices
Event has closed – To watch a recorded webcast, please click here
Ensuring healthier lives, especially for women and children, begins at home. Women and children die every day of diseases such as diarrhea, which are easily preventable with better hygiene practices. But how can the health care community spur a change towards healthier practices? Changing traditional behaviours takes a lot of time, effort and contextual knowledge to be successful in any country. Participants joined Dr. Dauod Khuram, Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan; Ms. Robin Montgomery, Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development; Mr. Rohit Ramchandani, Cola Life and Ms. Carol Nablema, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Consultant for a panel discussion on techniques to encourage better health practices in the developing world.

Thursday, December 5 – Supply and Demand: Examining Financial Access for Health
Event has closed – To watch a recorded webcast, please click here
Access to health services is globally recognized as a human right, yet for millions of people, basic health care remains out of reach. This is partly due to a lack of financial resources for individual households. Participants joined Marcia Metcalfe, Director of Microfinance and Health, Freedom from Hunger; Marnie Davidson, Program Manager and Health Advisor, CARE Canada, and Albert Tseng, Health Sector Lead, UNDP Business Call to Action who each shared a range of innovative approaches aimed at reducing the economic burden of health care. This session was moderated by Diane Gagnon, Lead, Global Health Research Initiative.

January 23, 2014 – Virtual Health, Healthy Reality: Exploring eHealth
Event has closed – To watch a recorded webcast, please click here
A growing number of practitioners are exploring eHealth – leveraging advances in communications technology to strengthen health systems across the globe. Aiming to promote improved health service provision, especially in difficult-to-access rural and remote communities, these innovations have resulted in a suite of programs from health messages delivered to mobile phones to video conferencing between doctors on different continents. Participants joined Dr. Kendall Ho, Director, eHealth Strategy Office, University of British Columbia, Saleem Sayani, Director, eHealth Resource Centre, Aga Khan Development Network and Chaitali Sinha, Senior Program Officer, International Development Research Centre, for an in-depth look at how eHealth is contributing to improved maternal and child health. This event was moderated by Dorothy Shaw, Chair, Canadian Network for Maternal and Child Health.
Undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.

Cultivating Food Security: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond 2015 | In conversation with Elisabeth Rasmusson
2013-11-21
Watch a recording of the event:

Undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

Saving a Generation: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in the Developing World: 2013 University Seminar Series
2013-11-08
According to United Nations’ estimates, in 2010, some 800 women died every day from complications of pregnancy or childbirth, 99% of them in developing countries. Some 7.6 million children died before the age of five[1].
The Aga Khan Development Network has been working for decades to address the underlying causes of these staggering numbers through its programs in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in some of the poorest communities of the developing world. Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) was pleased to present the results of some of this work as part of the 2013 University Seminar Series.
AKFC started its University Seminar Series in 2001 by bringing international development practitioners from its partner projects in Asia and Africa to universities across Canada. The goal: to engage students from a variety of fields in discussions and workshops on key development issues, providing them with an opportunity to gain a practical understanding of the challenges involved in designing and implementing projects in the field.
This year, AKFC was pleased to partner with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to presentSaving A Generation: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in the Developing World, a series of conversations with faculty, students and other interested guests at twelve universities and partner sites across western, central and eastern Canada.
Our speakers included: Umaira Ansari, Research Associate and Communications Coordinator for the Nigerian Evidence-based Health System Initiative; Aditi Iyer,Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Sisawo Konteh,Director of Outreach Services for Aga Khan Health Services Tanzania; and Rudoba Rakhmatova, Senior Health Program Officer for Aga Khan Foundation Tajikistan.

We were very pleased that over 550 students, faculty, and members of the public attended the seminars in 10 cities across the country.
If you are interested in learning more about the University Seminar Series, or possibly hosting a seminar please email us.
Undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.
[1]World Health Organization,Trends in Maternal Mortality:1990-2010: WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank Estimates(Geneva: WHO Press, 2012)http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/publications/pid/10728

Measuring Quality of Life
2013-10-24
This event has concluded
View a recording of the event here:

For more information on the Quality of Life Program, please click here.

Undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD)

Reporting Without a Parachute: Reflections from a â€˜Post-War Correspondent'
2013-09-24
Following the series, Marc produced a short video to share his reflections on post-war correspondence.

You can also view a Storify summary of the series below:

[View the story “Reporting Without a Parachute: Reflections from a ‘Post-War Correspondent'” on Storify]
Undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).
Additional information
Marc Ellison left the safety of his cubicle after a 10-year career in IT to chase his dream of becoming a photojournalist. To prove it wasn’t a foolhardy exercise, he’s worked in Central African Republic, northern Uganda and South Sudan over the last two years.
Marc’s most recent project, funded by an International Development Research Centre award, examined the reintegration of female former child soldiers in Uganda (www.dwogpaco.com). In 2013, he received an award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for a subsequent series he wrote for The Toronto Star about the challenges these women continue to face.
Marc has since produced work for: The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, 60 Minutes, CBC, iPolitics, VICE magazine, The Tyee, MTV Canada, Canadian Geographic, IDRC, Radio Miraya and The New Nation (both South Sudan), Mega FM (Gulu, Uganda) and OpenFile.
He recently won best photo in the “Africa” category in the World Bank Picture Inequality competition, and his work is currently being displayed in an outdoor PhotoSensitive project in Toronto.
In October 2013, he will be travelling to post-conflict Mali to assist in a reality-radio project with Farm Radio International.
You can follow Marc on Twitter @marceellison and see his work at www.marcellison.com.

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Cultivating Active Citizenship: Inspiring Young Canadians to make a difference
2013-06-12
Dougherty says that inspiring young Canadians to take action goes beyond Facebook likes and Twitter followers. It’s about getting personal with youth and asking them – face-to-face – to get involved.
Active citizenship is about “understanding our power as individuals and as a collective to make change and to be agents of change,” said Dougherty.
Apathy is Boring is a non-partisan charity that uses art and technology to educate Canadian youth about democracy and motivate them to get involved in their communities, while the EYES Project promotes the importance of community-building and environmental sustainability in youth education, and offers a forum for Canadian educators and students to discuss these issues. Both aim to engage youth in active citizenship.
“When I think of strategies to engage young people, I always start with the premise that we all come to a learning experience with personal knowledge and life experiences,” said Glithero, highlighting the importance of making education personal.
Learning that is driven by youths’ interests and passions becomes an avenue for engagement with local and global issues, she explained.
Youth have plenty of good, innovative ideas to put forward – the key is to ensure that their ideas wind up on the desks of the people who need to hear them, including elected officials and other community leaders, said Dougherty. Youth also need to be involved in decision-making – and not just in token roles, added Glithero. They must be an integral part of the process.
The event was in celebration of 26 young Canadians who are undertaking eight-month placements in Africa and Asia through Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s 2013-14 International Youth Fellowship program. Every year, fellows are placed with partner organizations in the fields of development management, microfinance and microenterprise, and media in order to develop leadership skills, contribute to their host organizations, and learn about international development.
This year’s fellows come from coast-to-coast, bringing a diverse range of experience to the table: from working for the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh; to researching leisure activities in Malawi’s refugee camps; to arranging travel for Inuit from northern Quebec to working on community development projects in Kenya.
Over the next eight months, they will be put their experience and abilities to use while working in Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Bangladesh. This year’s recipients are:

Adam Feather (Ottawa, ON) placed in Tanzania with the Aga Khan Foundation
Alim Fakirani (Montreal, QC) placed in Tanzania with Aga Khan University
Allison Enns (Winnipeg, MB) placed in Mozambique with Aga Khan Foundation
Alyza Devraj (Vancouver, BC) placed in Madagascar with the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance
Andrea Shillolo (Emsdale, ON) placed in Kenya with Aga Khan Foundation
Andrew Lusztyk (Toronto, ON) placed in Kenya with Honey Care Africa Ltd
Caitlin Cassie (Coquitlam, BC) placed in Uganda with Aga Khan Foundation
David Meffe (Montreal, QC) placed in Kenya with Nation Media Group
Dhaarna Tangri (Surrey, BC) placed in the Kyrgyz Republic with Aga Khan Foundation
Douglas Lau (Burnaby, BC) placed in Tanzania with Aga Khan Health Services
Edward Zvekic (Gatineau, QC) placed in Egypt with the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance
Flavie Halais (Montreal, QC) placed in Kenya with Nation Media Group
Hilary Clauson (Ottawa, ON) placed in Bangladesh with Aga Khan Foundation
Jamie Charlebois (Halifax, NS) placed in Bangladesh with CARE
Jessica Pisarek (Vancouver, BC) placed in India with Aga Khan Planning and Building Services
Kendra Thorogood (Ottawa, ON) placed in Tajikistan with First MicroFinance Bank
Laurence Couture Gagnon (Rimouski, QC) placed in Tajikistan with Aga Khan Foundation
Nabeel Ahmed (Mississauga, ON) placed in the Kyrgyz Republic with the University of Central Asia
Nicole Gladstone (Ottawa, ON) placed in Uganda with the Madrasa Resource Centre
Oksana Kovalenko (Toronto, ON) placed in the Kyrgyz Republic with the First MicroCredit Company
Olga Mirzoeva (Ottawa, ON) placed in Tanzania with CARE
Raafi-Karim Alidina (Edmonton, AB) placed in Bangladesh with Aga Khan Foundation
Rukshan Mehta (Toronto, ON) placed in India with Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Safiqa Kara (Calgary, AB) placed in Tajikistan with Aga Khan Health Services
Savannah Hallworth (Delta, BC) placed in the Kyrgyz Republic with the University of Central Asia
Tracey Evans (Oakville, ON) placed in Bangladesh with CARE

Check back to our International Youth Fellowship webpage to read about their experiences and to learn more about AKFC’s fellowship program.

AKFC Seminars on Innovative Financing for Development
2013-06-04
Watch selected interviews with speakers who participated in the AKFC Seminars on Innovative Financing for Development series. Complete webcasts of all the events in the series are also available.
Event Highlights
Accelerating Impact: the Role of Impact Investing in Innovative Financing for Development March 26, 2013 – In the inaugural event of the series, Edward Jackson, a faculty member at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, and Karim Harji, a co-founder and partner at Purpose Capital, explained that impact investing means investing for a mix of financial and social returns. “There are wicked problems that we need to solve – everything from extreme poverty to climate change – and we need some new tools,” said Jackson. “We need ways of levering capital and influence and results. Impact investing is one source of leverage and mobilization of a new set of tools and products both for private capital and for public capital.”

View the recorded webcast

Clients at the Centre: Workshop to launch The New Microfinance Handbook
April 30, 2013 – This full-day workshop was held in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation and featured a keynote address by Bob Christen, President of the Boulder Institute of Microfinance, as well as presentations by Ann Miles, Director of Microfinance at The MasterCard Foundation; Steve Rasmussen, Manager of Technology and Business Model Innovation at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor; and Joanna Ledgerwood, Director of Enterprise Development at Aga Khan Foundation. The workshop explored the need for increased financial inclusion in developing countries by examining the financial market system and promoting a thorough understanding of client needs. Current research is looking to understand the financial lives of the world’s poor and the broad range of financial services that would be helpful to them, said Mr. Christen. “What are they doing informally and how can we be helpful formally? How can we add value to those financial lives? How can we help them achieve their family goals that are so fundamental?”

View the recorded webcast

Innovative Financing for Early Childhood Education
May 16, 2013 – In light of uncertain economic times, budgets for education – and early human development, in particular – are often the first to suffer. In his presentation, Dr. Marito Garcia, Lead Economist and Program Manager at the Human Development Department of the Africa Region of the World Bank, described the impact this has on the world’s poor. To address this he first outlined successes around the use of conditional cash transfers and introduced two new ideas – young child development bonds and young child development credits – which could help change how education programs are funded worldwide. “The rate of return to early childhood investments is 2 to 3 times that of primary of secondary schooling,” said Dr. Garcia. This entails higher lifetime earnings, reduced crime, a lesser propensity for diseases and more, making the investment in early childhood education extremely important for societies as a whole.

View the recorded webcast

Local Assets for Local Needs: Community Philanthropy in Action
June 4, 2013 – In the final event of the series, AKFC hosted a panel discussion with Janet Mawiyoo, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation; Victoria Grant, Interim Director of The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada; Nick Deychakiwsky, Program Officer at the C.S. Mott Foundation; and Natalie Ross, Program Officer at Aga Khan Foundation USA. In describing the the Kenyan context for community philanthropy, Ms. Mawiyoo explained that drawing on local resources through community philanthropy can reduce dependency, allow communities to lead their own development, and cultivate sustainable, long-term assets.

View the recorded webcast

Further Reading about Innovative Financing:

Accelerating Impact: Achievements, Challenges and What’s Next in Building the Impact Investing Industry [pdf]

The New Microfinance Handbook [pdf]

The Case for Community Philanthropy [pdf]

AKFC Seminar and Live Webcast: Tracing Health to Its Roots: Linking Early Childhood Development to Healthy Adulthood
2013-01-25
Dr. Lye, the inaugural Executive Director of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development at the University of Toronto, highlighted the importance of the first 1,000 days in a child’s life in establishing trajectories in health, learning and social functioning as an adult.
This event was part of the AKFC Seminars, a sustained series of events and other learning materials that stimulated deep conversation on selected themes in development. The seminar series focused on early human development, with other speakers exploring interventions to reduce child mortality and the importance of micronutrients in determining the child’s potential.
Learn more:
Watch an interview with Dr. Lye, where he details the progress being made in Early Human Development and moving beyond basic child survival.
