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. 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) 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. 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 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.
Following migration to the West Pakistan after 1971, he stayed briefly stayed in Peshawar before proceeding on to East Lansing, Michigan, USA for a 2nd time. He returned to Pakistan in 1979-80 (via Bangladesh) and founded the Orangi Pilot Project. Once in Pakistan, he also helped develop the Aga Khan Rural Support which was headed by his long time student colleague, Shoaib Sultan Khan. When Shoaib Sultan Khan founded the National Rural Support Program, Akhter Hameed Khan continued to support the NRSP. In the meantime under Khan's leadership the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) thrived, grew and diversified.
Akhter Hameed Khan died on October 9th, 1999 in Indianapolis, USA while visiting his daughter. He is survived by his wife, Shafiq Khan, 4 daughters and a son - who live in the US, Canada and Pakistan.
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.
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
Main article: Comilla Model
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.
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.
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.
Orangi Pilot Project
Main article: 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. The project was aimed at socio-economic development of the population of the vast Orangi area of Karachi. As the project director Dr Khan and proved to be its dynamic and innovative leader. The project comprised a number of programs, including a people's financed and managed Low-Cost Sanitation Program; 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.
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.
”
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.
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)
He is particularly known for his leading role in the establishment of a comprehensive project for rural development, Comilla Model (1959) 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. 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 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.
Following migration to the West Pakistan after 1971, he stayed briefly stayed in Peshawar before proceeding on to East Lansing, Michigan, USA for a 2nd time. He returned to Pakistan in 1979-80 (via Bangladesh) and founded the Orangi Pilot Project. Once in Pakistan, he also helped develop the Aga Khan Rural Support which was headed by his long time student colleague, Shoaib Sultan Khan. When Shoaib Sultan Khan founded the National Rural Support Program, Akhter Hameed Khan continued to support the NRSP. In the meantime under Khan's leadership the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) thrived, grew and diversified.
Akhter Hameed Khan died on October 9th, 1999 in Indianapolis, USA while visiting his daughter. He is survived by his wife, Shafiq Khan, 4 daughters and a son - who live in the US, Canada and Pakistan.
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.
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
Main article: Comilla Model
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.
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.
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.
Orangi Pilot Project
Main article: 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. The project was aimed at socio-economic development of the population of the vast Orangi area of Karachi. As the project director Dr Khan and proved to be its dynamic and innovative leader. The project comprised a number of programs, including a people's financed and managed Low-Cost Sanitation Program; 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.
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.
”
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.
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)
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