October 8, 2014 – Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) is pleased to join the Saving Brains Grand Challenge, a global partnership that supports early development for children in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world.

Around the world, as many as 200 million children fail to reach their full potential – a particular risk in developing countries, where many children lack opportunities for proper brain development.

Sustainable approaches to child development, which reach a large number of children with significant impact on each child, are key to breaking this cycle of poverty. With this new partnership, AKFC will contribute to the Saving Brains Grand Challenge, which identifies and helps to scale up these approaches.

“Investments in early child development are not only critical to the individual child, but to the long-term development of their community,” said Khalil Z. Shariff, CEO of AKFC. “This partnership will help multiply the benefits of these investments and underscore their priority.”

The Aga Khan Development Network has worked for decades to identify barriers to quality early childhood programming – work which will be amplified and expanded through this new partnership.

To learn more about the Saving Brains Grand Challenge, read the press release.

Watch this short video to learn more about the importance of early childhood development: