For several decades, Western countries have promoted democratic governance in many parts of the world, including Muslim societies. However, many democracies have struggled in recent years. His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV outlined his views on how to strengthen democracy in this speech at the International New York Times Athens Democracy Forum, held on 15 September 2015 in Athens, Greece.

Despite significant progress in maternal, newborn, and child health globally, many preventable maternal deaths still occur in developing countries, where many women are not attended to by a trained midwife, nurse or doctor during childbirth. His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV addressed this topic and AKDN’s related initiatives in this speech at the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Summit held in Toronto, Canada on 29 May 2014.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has invested in cultural heritage projects in various countries, including revitalising Islamic monuments and gardens. This includes a series of interconnected heritage projects in New Delhi, India, which His Highness the Aga Khan discussed in this speech at the inauguration of the Sunder Nursery, held on 21 February 2018.

In our previous episode, we heard the His Highness the Aga Khan’s commencement speech at Brown University in 1996. Eighteen years later, he was invited to Brown University again to deliver the 88th Stephen Ogden Lecture on 10 March 2014. The Aga Khan reflected on the changes in the world over this period, often linked to individuals learning to live amongst increasing diversity.

The Soviet Union fell in 1991, ending a decades-long ideological conflict with the United States known as the Cold War. The years that followed saw considerable change around the world, including growing perceptions of a so-called Clash of Civilisations between the Muslim world and the West. His Highness the Aga Khan addressed this changing landscape and the gulf of knowledge between the West and the Islamic world in these excerpts of his commencement speech at Brown University on 26 May 1996.

His Highness the Aga Khan established the Nation Media Group in 1960 to be a fair-minded, independent media voice to assist in East Africa’s peaceful transition to democracy. To mark the Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary, the Aga Khan reflected on the role of media in Africa’s development in this speech on 18 March 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Many modern leaders and thinkers have been trying to determine how the Muslim world can reclaim the position of intellectual and cultural leadership in the world that it once held. His Highness the Aga Khan reflected on this question in this speech at the 25th anniversary graduation of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, held in London on 19 October 2003.

Click here to read the speech.

Civil society is that part of society, distinct from the state, government and business, in which citizens create organisations that are private and motivated to enhance the public good. His Highness the Aga Khan spoke about the important role of a strong civil society in this speech to the Parliament of Canada on 27 February 2014. It was the first time in Canadian history that a faith leader had been invited to address Parliament. Please note that although the majority of this speech is in English, it does contain some portions in French. A translation is available in the podcast’s transcript and on the Aga Khan Development Network website.

In 2015, His Highness the Aga Khan was invited to deliver the prestigious Jodidi lecture at Harvard University, the university that he graduated from in 1959. In this speech, made on 12 November 2015, he addressed the topic of “The Cosmopolitan Ethic in a fragmented world.”

To assist the development of several former Soviet republics in Central Asia as they transitioned into independent nations, the Aga Khan Development Network began to establish various institutions, particularly in education. His Highness the Aga Khan spoke about what constitutes a successful education in the modern world in this speech at the opening of the Aga Khan School in Osh in the Kyrgyz Republic on 30 October 2002.

Click here to read the speech.