Bangladeshi activist Runa Khan wins Ramon Magsaysay Award

DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and activist Runa Khan has been named a recipient of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award, one of Asia’s most prestigious honors, for building a community-led development model that has brought essential services to millions of marginalized people.

Khan, the founder of Bangladesh-based social purpose organization Friendship, was recognized for more than two decades of work among communities often beyond the reach of conventional public services, particularly those living in remote and climate-vulnerable riverine areas.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation praised Khan for her “profound empathy for the poorest of the poor” and her “courage, vision, and tenacity” in building Friendship. She becomes the 14th recipient from Bangladesh and will formally receive the award at a ceremony in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 15.

Often described as “Asia’s Nobel Prize,” the Ramon Magsaysay Award recognizes individuals and organizations whose leadership and public service have helped address major challenges facing societies across Asia.

Khan’s work began in 2002 with a floating hospital designed to reach people living on Bangladesh’s chars — shifting river islands and sandbars where communities can be cut off from hospitals, schools and other basic services.

That initiative eventually developed into Friendship, which says it now reaches about 7.5 million people annually through programs spanning health care, education, climate adaptation, sustainable economic development, citizenship rights and cultural preservation.

Central to the organization’s model is designing services around the realities of isolated communities rather than requiring residents to travel to systems that are often inaccessible to them. Friendship recruits and trains local people and involves communities in developing programs, including women and people with disabilities.

Khan also sought to change the traditional structure of international development funding by establishing Friendship organizations overseas to work more directly with donors and partners while keeping decision-making and implementation rooted in local communities.

Friendship Luxembourg was established in 2006, followed by entities in the Netherlands in 2007, Britain in 2010, France in 2015 and Belgium in 2018.

Accepting the recognition, Khan said the award belonged not only to her but to the communities Friendship serves and the people who have worked alongside her over the past 25 years.

“There is no leader who walks alone,” Khan said, describing the recognition as “a wonderful responsibility.”

The award was established in memory of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and was first presented in 1958.

Over nearly seven decades, it has honored hundreds of individuals and organizations for leadership and public service addressing some of Asia’s most persistent social and development challenges.