- Friendship founder honoured for transforming lives of climate-vulnerable and marginalised communities through healthcare, education and innovative adaptation programmes
DHAKA: Bangladeshi social entrepreneur Runa Khan, founder of grassroots development organisation Friendship, has been named a recipient of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award for her more than two decades of work improving the lives of marginalised and climate-vulnerable communities across Bangladesh.
Khan has spent over 20 years developing programmes to expand access to healthcare, education, livelihoods and climate adaptation for people living in Bangladesh’s remote river islands, known as chars, as well as communities in the country’s coastal areas along the Bay of Bengal.
Founded in 2002 with a hospital ship, Friendship has since grown into a wide-ranging development organisation operating seven hospital vessels, five of which were funded by the Islamic Development Bank. The organisation estimates that its programmes now reach approximately 7.5 million people annually.
Its initiatives have focused particularly on communities affected by flooding, river erosion, cyclones and rising salinity. Friendship has established flood- and erosion-resilient infrastructure, including water treatment plants in coastal areas, cyclone shelters and solar-powered relocatable schools that can be moved when floods force communities to relocate.
The organisation also manages community-based mangrove plantations designed to help protect coastlines from erosion while creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for local residents.
Reacting to the award, Khan said the recognition represented a tribute to the communities and colleagues who had worked alongside her throughout the organisation’s journey.
“Life today is not only about the delivery of services, projects, or this kind of work, but is basically a journey that we all need to take towards human dignity,” Khan told Arab News following the announcement.
She dedicated the honour to the people who had enabled Friendship to work alongside them for more than two decades, as well as to the organisation’s staff whose “devotion and dedication” had contributed to its achievements.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, established in 1957 in memory of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, honours individuals and organisations across Asia demonstrating outstanding service and transformative leadership in addressing major social challenges.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation praised Khan for her “profound empathy for the poorest of the poor in her country” and for the “courage, vision, and tenacity” she demonstrated in building Friendship.
According to the foundation, what began as a single hospital ship has evolved into a comprehensive development model providing healthcare, education, climate adaptation, livelihood opportunities and social inclusion to millions of people in riverine, coastal and refugee communities.
Widely regarded as one of Asia’s most prestigious honours and frequently described as the “Nobel Prize of Asia,” the award makes Khan the 14th Bangladeshi national to receive the distinction.
Rasheda Rawnak Khan, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Dhaka, described the recognition as a “monumental moment of pride” for Bangladesh.
She said the award demonstrated that Bangladesh was not only among the countries most vulnerable to climate change but was also emerging as a source of innovative solutions to social and environmental challenges.
“For over two decades, Runa Khan’s organisation has served as a bridge for Bangladesh’s most marginalised populations, transforming vulnerable individuals into self-reliant citizens,” she told Arab News.
She further noted that communities affected by climate change were increasingly at the frontline of environmental displacement, adding that Khan’s work demonstrated that geographical isolation should not determine a person’s access to healthcare, essential services, dignity and hope.
Alongside Khan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation recognised Tommy Koh, a law professor at the National University of Singapore who played a leading role in negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The foundation also honoured Bo Kyi, a Burmese human rights defender and co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which documents arrests and detentions and provides support to political detainees and their families in Myanmar.
BY: The Times Union
