I vividly remember my visit to Smart Girls’ Centre, a civil society organisation (CSO) in Kampala, Uganda, focused on skilling and upskilling girls in non-traditional trades. There I saw CEO Jamila Mayanja working with eight learners to design solar-light school…
Whilst Eastern Africa was spared the brunt of COVID-19 cases in comparison to other regions in the Global South, its health systems still felt the strain of the fast-moving and unpredictable virus. But it was the socioeconomic impacts that would…
For every young child, books provide new worlds to explore, imaginary characters to befriend and, crucially, opportunities to build literacy in an engaging and playful way. Put simply, access to books is an extraordinarily powerful way to promote children’s learning…
Every weekend, over 300 adolescent girls and boys in northern Uganda’s Arua district meet in groups to discuss the challenges impacting their lives. They are part of 36 youth groups in Arua and Kampala formed under the In Their Hands…
500 million girls worldwide do not have access to menstrual hygiene products. They feel ashamed, anxious and stigmatised, to the point they are unable to go to school. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), in partnership with the Nnabagereka Development Foundation,…
“In a time of a pandemic, where we as human beings had to adapt so much, telling stories of how people did that is very important. It shows we are capable of being human and going with whatever odds are…
Since the start of 2021, the Aga Khan Foundation has been working in partnership with the European Union (EU) to take a multi-sector approach against the pandemic and its impacts in East Africa, with health system strengthening as a top…
In August 2020, Kiswa Primary School – one of the largest government-aided schools in Uganda’s capital – joined the Schools2030 programme to begin their Human-Centred Design (HCD) journey, led by a team of six teachers. They wanted to identify some…
AKF’s long-term work with civil society has been key to creating trust in its communities and supporting crucial development work. When the pandemic arrived in Uganda, it was vital that marginalised communities were reached with prevention strategies and ongoing support…
When staff at Arua Islamic Nursery School in Uganda first embarked on their Human-Centred Design (HCD) journey with Schools2030, they were unsure where to concentrate their initial efforts. As a design process that puts users first, HCD’s guiding principles required…