Friendship founder Runa Khan wins 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award

Bangladesh's Runa Khan, founder and executive director of non-governmental organisation Friendship, has received the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely regarded as the "Nobel Prize of Asia," for her decades-long work to improve the lives of communities in remote, river-eroded and climate-vulnerable areas of the country.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced the names of this year's recipients in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, today (31 August).

Runa founded Friendship in 2002 with a vision to support hard-to-reach and underserved communities and help them live with dignity and hope.

Friendship began its work by introducing a hospital ship to provide healthcare services to deprived communities living on sandbar islands, known as chars, along the Jamuna River.

Over the years, the organisation has expanded its programmes to include healthcare access, disaster response, capacity building, economic development, climate resilience, education, social inclusion, access to rights and cultural preservation.

The award recognises individuals whose work reflects the values associated with Ramon Magsaysay's leadership, including serving others, creating opportunities for communities and helping people shape their own futures.

Alongside Runa, Singaporean diplomat, lawyer, professor and author Tommy Koh and Myanmar human rights activist Bo Kyi were also named recipients of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

The award ceremony will be held on 15 November at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.

Named after Ramon Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippines, the award was established in 1957 following his death in a plane crash. The first awards were presented in 1958.