Speeches
![Mawlana Hazar Imam delivering the Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture at Harvard University on 12 November 2015. Mawlana Hazar Imam delivering the Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture at Harvard University on 12 November 2015.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/agakhan-harvard-jodidi-lecture-farhezrayani-speech-1793-crop-resize-q10.jpg?itok=vfidcjwm)
“The developing world is now facing a major challenge: how does it care for the elderly? Even in more developed societies, social changes have eroded some of the domestic support that once eased the burdens of the aging. How, we must all ask, will we manage the new challenges of longevity?”
![Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at the Stoa of Attalos in Athens where he delivered a Keynote Address at the Athens Democracy Forum on the International Day of Democracy. Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at the Stoa of Attalos in Athens where he delivered a Keynote Address at the Athens Democracy Forum on the International Day of Democracy.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-09-greece-05-g65_1625.jpg?itok=qrdWiy18)
“One ultimate requirement for any effective democracy is the capacity to compromise. Social order rests in the end either on oppression or accommodation. But we can never find that balancing point – where the interests of all parties are recognised – unless competing leaders and their diverse followers alike, are committed to finding common ground. That common ground, in my view, is the global aspiration for a better quality of life – from the reduction of poverty to quality longevity – built upon opportunities that will provide genuine hope for the future.”
![Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking after the signing of a historic agreement between the Ismaili Imamat and the Province of Ontario. Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking after the signing of a historic agreement between the Ismaili Imamat and the Province of Ontario.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-05-canada-56236.jpg?itok=F543EWDf)
![The new museum will be "at the juncture of three historically connected sites, Humayun's Tomb and its Gardens, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, and the Sundar Nursery," said Mawlana Hazar Imam. The new museum will be "at the juncture of three historically connected sites, Humayun's Tomb and its Gardens, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, and the Sundar Nursery," said Mawlana Hazar Imam.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-04-india-55872.jpg?itok=V59p_-qO)
![Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at AKU’s convocation ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya. Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at AKU’s convocation ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-02-kenya-55532.jpg?itok=FKuItrnf&c=4071d86c35c77fd1797bda7ac2581273)
![At the graduation of 49 students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery and eight students from the Institute for Educational Development in Uganda, Mawlana Hazar Imam spoke of the “multiplier effect” that they would have in building civil society. At the graduation of 49 students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery and eight students from the Institute for Educational Development in Uganda, Mawlana Hazar Imam spoke of the “multiplier effect” that they would have in building civil society.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-03-02-east-africa03.jpg?itok=hkYvQ4Um&c=5f356d2c75588a7ca40749438c875a99)
![Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at AKU’s convocation ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at AKU’s convocation ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.](https://the.ismaili/sites/default/files/styles/news/public/1_2015-02-tanzania-55070.jpg?itok=9eZfH-uU)
“As we look to the future, I am increasingly impressed by one overriding insight. It reflects the vast flow of information that has come my way as I have watched the ups and downs of the developing world. 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.”