Akhtar Hameed Khan

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Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan

File:AHKhan.jpg
Born

July 15 1914(1914-07-15)
Agra, British India

Died 9 October 1999 (aged 85)

Karachi, Pakistan

Residence Karachi Pakistan, Comilla Bangladesh
Nationality Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistani
Field Rural development, Microcredit
Institutions Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (Bangladesh), National Centre for Rural Development (Pakistan)
Alma mater Michigan State University
Known for Microcredit, Microfinance, Comilla Model, Orangi Pilot Project
Notable prizes Magsaysay Award (1963), Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Pakistan

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan (1914-1999) was a development activist and social scientist credited for pioneering microcredit and microfinance initiatives, farmers' cooperatives, and rural training programmes in the developing world.[1] He also promoted rural development activities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and in other developing countries, and advocated community participation in development.

He is particularly known for his leading role in the establishment of a comprehensive project for rural development, Comilla Model (1959)[2] that earned him Magsaysay Award from Philippines and honorary Doctorate of Law by Michigan State University. In 1980s he founded a bottom up community development initiative of Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi slums.[3] He received wide international recognition and highest honours in Pakistan for these projects and a number of programs that were part of these projects, from microcredit to self-financed and from housing provision to family planning.

Khan was fluent in five international languages, and apart from many scholarly books and articles, published his collection of poems and travelogues in Urdu language.

Personal life

Khan was born on 15 July 1914 in Agra and died on 9 October 1999. He graduated from from Agra University in 1934 to join the Indian Civil Service (ICS). On his ICS probation, he studied literature and history at Magdalene College, Cambridge, England. A larger part of his ICS career was served in East Bengal. The Bengal famine of 1943 and subsequent inadequate handling of the situation by the colonial rulers led him to resign from the Indian Civil Service. For two years he worked in a village near Aligarh as a labourer and locksmith. In 1947, he took up a teaching position at the Jamia Millia, Delhi, and worked for three years.

He spent a significant part of his life in Comilla. His residence was located in the Ranir Dighir Par area of the town, adjacent to Victoria College where he taught for a long time. As a gesture of respect for his contributions to the community, the Comilla-Kotbari road in Bangladesh has been named after him.

Career

After Partition of Bengal (Partition of British India) in 1947, Khan migrated to Karachi and from there he went to East Pakistan to become the Principal of the Comilla Victoria College till 1958. During this time, he developed special interest in the initiatives and participation of grassroots level people. In 1958, he went to the Michigan State University for a special orientation in rural development. Returning in 1959, he established Pakistan Academy for Rural Development at Comilla, later renamed as Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD). He worked there until 1971 as the Director. His Comilla project for rural development became famous as a successful model for cooperatives at the local levels.In 1963, he received Magsaysay Award by the Government of the Philippines for his services in rural development. In 1964, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law by Michigan State University.

After Partition of Pakistan, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh, Khan moved to Pakistan and served as a Research Fellow, first at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and then in 1972–1973 at Karachi University. In 1973, he went back to the Michigan State University as a visiting professor to remain there until 1979. In 1979 he also began serving as an adviser at the Rural Development Academy at Bogra in northern Bangladesh.

Khan also worked as a visiting professor at the Lund University, Sweden, at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, at Harvard University, and Oxford University. In 1980, he founded the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Karachi.[4]

Khan was fluent in English, Bengali, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages.[5] He wrote a number of articles, reports and monographs, mostly relating to rural development in general and his various successful and model initiatives in particular.

Comilla Cooperative Pilot Project

The Comilla Model (1959) was Khan's initiative in response to the failure of Village Agricultural and Industrial Development (V-AID) programme that was launched in 1953 in East and West Pakistan with technical assistance from the US government. The V-AID was a governmental level attempt to promote citizens participation in the sphere of rural development.[6]

Comilla Model provided a methodology of implementation in the areas of agricultural and rural development on the principle of grassroots level cooperative participation by the people. [2] The initial concept was to provide a development model of programmes and institutions that could be replicated across the country. The leadership skills of Khan proved a source of inspiration for Grameen Bank by one of the Comilla Academy students Muhammad Yunus.[7]

While most of the cooperatives failed, frustrating Khan's goals, the Model provided valuable lessons for later Bangladeshi leaders in microfinance like Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank and Dr. Fazle Hasan Abed of BRAC. These leaders abandoned the cooperative approach in favour of centralized control and service delivery structures, and adopted a strategy of targeting the poorest villagers while excluding those who were less poor. This strategy successfully prevented the types of 'elite capture' of local cooperatives, leading to widespread delinquencies, that plagued the Comilla Model.[8]

Orangi Pilot Project

Orangi poverty alleviation project (Orangi Pilot Project, OPP) was initiated by Dr Khan in 1980. Orangi at that time was the largest squatter community (katchi abadi) in Karachi.[9] The project was aimed at socio-economic development of the population of the vast Orangi area of Karachi[10]. As the project director Dr Khan and proved to be its dynamic and innovative leader.[11] The project comprised a number of programs, including a people's financed and managed Low-Cost Sanitation Program;[12] a Housing Program; a Basic Health and Family Planning Program; a Program of Supervised Credit for Small Family Enterprise Units; an education Program; and a Rural development Program in the nearby villages.[13]

Comparing the OPP with Comilla project, Akhtar Hameed Khan once commented:

"The Orangi Pilot Project was very different from the Comilla Academy. OPP was a private body, dependent for its small fixed budget on another NGO. The vast resources and support of the government, Harvard advisors, MSU, and Ford Foundation was missing. OPP possessed no authority, no sanctions. It may observe and investigate but it could only advise, not enforce." [14]

However, both the projects followed the same research and extension methods.

Recognition

Khan died on 9 October 1999 at the age of 85. On 10 April 2000, the Government of Pakistan renamed the National Centre for Rural Development as Akhtar Hameed Khan National Centre for Rural Development and Municipal Administration.[15]

Khan received the following civil awards during his life:

  • Nishan-e-Imtiaz
  • Hilal-e-Imtiaz,
  • Ramon Magsaysay Award, 31 August 1963, Manila, Philippines
  • Sitara-e-Pakistan, 1961

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Award

Council of Social Sciences, Pakistan (COSS) in collaboration with National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and other institutions, have established an annual cash award in the memory of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan. The Award is given every year on October 9, the birthday of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan, to the best book by a Pakistani author published during a financial year (July to June) written in any of the issues related to (i) rural/urban development (ii) Peace (iii) Poverty alleviation and (iv) Gender discrimination.

Publications

  • 1998, Community-Based Schools and the Orangi Project. In Hoodbhoy, P (ed.), Education and the State: Fifty Years of Pakistan, Chapter 7, Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195778250
  • 1997, The sanitation gap: Development's deadly menace. The Progress of Nations. UNICEF
  • 1996, Orangi Pilot Project: Reminiscences and Reflections. The Oxford University Press: Karachi. (editions: 1996, 1999, 2005). ISBN 978-0195979862
  • 1988, Chiragh aur Kanwal (Collection of poems in Urdu). Saad Publishers: Karachi
  • 1974, Institutions for rural development in Indonesia, Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, ASIN B0007AK9M2
  • 1972, Safar-e-Amrika ki Diary (A Diary of Travels in America). The City Press: Karachi (in Urdu)

See also

Portal:Sustainable development
 Sustainable development Portal
  • Comilla Model
  • Orangi Pilot Project
  • Microcredit
  • Microfinance
  • Social innovation

Notes

  1. ↑ 1985, Benedict Stavis, Pacific Affairs, Vol.58, No.4, p. 727-728
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 1973, Arthur F Raper, Rural Development in Action: The Comprehensive Experiment at Comilla, East Pakistan, Cornell University Press: Ithaca
  3. ↑ 2003, Nasim Yousuf, Allama Mashriqi and Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan: Two Legends of Pakistan, ISBN 1-4010-9097-4
  4. ↑ 2000, In commemoration of The Life and Times of Akhtar Hameed Khan: Talks of Akhtar Hameed Khan at the National Rural Support Programme, Islamabad, NRSP
  5. ↑ Sajahan Miah, Akhtar Hameed Khan, at Banglapedia. Retrieved on 15 February, 2007
  6. ↑ 1983, The Works of Akhtar Hameed Khan. Volume I-III. Compiled by the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development: Kothbari, Comilla
  7. ↑ 2005, E. H. Valsan, Leadership in Public Administration for Alleviating Poverty and Development: A Conceptual Approach, p.49, in Jak Jabes (ed.) The Role of Public Administration in Alleviating Poverty and Improving Governance, NAPSIPAG, Asian Development Bank. ISBN 971-561-593-3
  8. ↑ Asif Dowla and Dipal Barua. The Poor Always Pay Back: The Grameen II Story. Kumarian Press, Inc., 2006, p. 18.
  9. ↑ 1999, Arif Hasan, Akhtar Hameed Khan and the Orangi Pilot Project. City Press: Karachi
  10. ↑ 1997, George H. Axinn, Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 14, No. 2, (June). ISSN 0889-048X
  11. ↑ 1998, Ashok Nigam and Sadig Rasheed, Financing of Fresh Water for All: A Rights Based Approach, UNICEF Staff Working Papers. Evaluation, Policy and Planning Series, No. EPP-EVL-98-003
  12. ↑ 1997, Akhtar Hameed Khan, The sanitation gap: Development's deadly menace. The Progress of Nations. UNICEF
  13. ↑ 1996, Orangi Pilot Project: Reflection and Reminiscences. The Oxford University Press: Karachi
  14. ↑ Introduction about Late Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan at Government of Pakistan website. Retrieved on 15 February, 2007
  15. ↑ 2006, Nasim Yousaf, 7th Death Anniversary — A Tribute to Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan, October 17

External links

Further reading

  • "Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan - The Pioneer of Microcredit"[1]
  • Allama Mashriqi and Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan: Two Legends of Pakistan, by Nasim Yousaf, ISBN 1-4010-9097-4 (2003)
  • In commemoration of The Life and Times of Akhter Hameed Khan: Talks of Akhter Hameed Khan at the National Rural Support Programme, Islamabad. Compiled by National Rural Support Programme,NRSP, Pakistan.
  • 1983, The Works of Akhtar Hameed Khan. Volume I-III. Compiled by the Bandladesh Academy for Rural Development, Kothbari, Comilla (2000)

"Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan" by Hassan Abadi. Language: Urdu,ISBN-13: 978-0-19-547205-9 by Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan. (2006)


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  1. ↑ http://www.akhtar-hameed-khan.8m.com/drkhan-microcredit.pdf
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