“More and more, I am convinced that the key to improving the quality of human life — both in places that are gifted with good governments and in places that are not so fortunate — is the quality of what I describe as civil society,” said the Aga Khan.The Aga Khan believes that the quality of life in East Africa would improve if civil society embraced quality and was more ethical, and this is driving the Aga Khan University’s bold expansion in the region.
His Highness the Aga Khan, Chancellor of the Aga Khan University
Kampala, Uganda, February 26, 2015
The Aga Khan believes that the quality of life in East Africa would improve if civil society embraced quality and was more ethical, and this is driving the Aga Khan University’s bold expansion in the region…..He defines civil society as an array of institutions that are neither public nor profit driven, but which are motivated by voluntary commitments and dedicated to the public good: “They include institutions dedicated to culture, to public information, to the environment and to religious faith. And they include, very importantly, the fields of health and education.”
The hereditary spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims holds that quality civil society organisations are critical if human life across the world, especially in the developed world, is to be improved.
He avers that a healthy civil society is a meritocratic one, where ethics are honoured, and excellence is valued. “And the great question confronting us here in Africa is how rapidly the institutions of a healthy civil society can be established and reinforced.”
via The East African
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