Akhtar Hameed Khan
Akhtar Hameed Khan was a Pakistani social scientist and development practitioner who founded the Comilla Model and the Orangi Pilot Project.
Comilla Model: A rural development approach built around cooperatives, local institutions, agricultural services, and government support in Comilla, East Pakistan. Khan developed this model through a long-running rural program in Comilla.
Participatory development: A development approach that involves affected communities in setting priorities and carrying out projects. Khan's programs relied on residents' participation rather than treating them as passive beneficiaries.
Rural Development Academy, Bangladesh: A training and research institution established in Comilla to support rural development in Bangladesh. Khan led the Comilla program from the institution that became central to his work.
Community-driven development: A development approach that gives local communities substantial control over project decisions and resources. Khan's initiatives became widely cited examples of locally organized development.
Orangi Pilot Project: A low-cost, community-led upgrading program begun in Karachi's Orangi township in 1980. Khan founded this project to help residents improve sanitation and other services themselves.
Incremental development: A process of improving housing, services, or infrastructure through affordable steps over time. Orangi's residents upgraded sanitation gradually instead of waiting for a complete public system.
William Beveridge: A British economist and social reformer whose 1942 report proposed a comprehensive system of social security. Khan studied at the London School of Economics under Beveridge's influence.
Slum upgrading: The improvement of informal settlements through infrastructure, services, and housing interventions. Orangi influenced approaches to improving informal settlements without wholesale clearance.
Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute: A Pakistani organization that continued and expanded the Orangi Pilot Project's research, training, and development work. The institute carried forward the project Khan founded after his death.
Low-cost sanitation: Sanitation systems designed to provide safe waste removal at costs accessible to low-income communities. The Orangi project developed affordable sewerage solutions residents could build and finance.