Runa Khan accepts the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award in Manila

Runa Khan, founder of Friendship, received the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award at a ceremony at the Metropolitan Theatre (MET Theatre) in Manila on Sunday, 15 November. The ceremony was followed by a gala dinner honouring this year’s laureates.

Earlier, on 11 November, Khan delivered a lecture reflecting on her journey and the experiences that shaped her work as a humanitarian and social innovator. Francisco Magsaysay, grandson of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, formally presented the 68th Ramon Magsaysay Award 2026 to Friendship Founder Runa Khan.

Widely regarded as Asia’s premier recognition for public service and transformative leadership, and often described as the “Nobel Prize of Asia”, the Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in memory of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. First presented in 1958, it recognised individuals and organisations whose work demonstrated courage, integrity, and service to the region. By 2026, it had honoured 359 individuals and organisations across 24 countries and territories in Asia. Khan became the 14th Bangladeshi recipient.

In electing Runa Khan to receive the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognises her profound empathy for the poorest of the poor in her country, and her courage, vision, and tenacity in building and leading Friendship to accomplish her mission. In her hands, privilege became not an entitlement, but a responsibility; not a family legacy to protect, but a gift to be shared so that others, too, might have the chance to live with hope, opportunity, and dignity.

Runa Khan’s journey began in 1997, when she encountered the realities of life on Bangladesh’s remote chars — shifting river islands exposed to erosion, flooding, and displacement, where communities often lacked reliable access to healthcare, education, and other essential services. She founded Friendship in 2002, beginning with a pioneering floating hospital that brought healthcare to people beyond the reach of conventional services.

Over more than two decades, Friendship grew into an integrated social purpose organisation working across healthcare, education, climate adaptation, sustainable economic development, inclusive citizenship, and cultural preservation. Together, they serve four commitments—saving lives, poverty alleviation, climate adaptation and empowerment, which collectively address all 17 Sustainable Development Goals though integrated, holistic development solutions. The organisation reaches approximately 7.5 million people each year, developing locally led solutions that connect essential services with long-term resilience.

Friendship’s Integrated Climate Adaptation Solution (ICAS) reflects this approach. It recognises that socioeconomic, climate, health, and geographic challenges were interconnected, and brought them together through locally led, nature-based action. In 2025, Friendship also became the first Bangladeshi organisation to win the Earthshot Prize, in recognition of its climate work.

While receiving the award, Runa Khan stated, “I chose to break free from the constraints of aristocracy, convention and performative goodness. I chose purpose over privilege, guided by empathy, truth, and ethical integrity, faith and trust in God. Always conscious, trying that no action of mine should cause harm. I started Friendship with these convictions, not through a predetermined plan, ambition, available funding or an agenda, but in response to genuine human need, and their unbearable suffering which I saw. As Friendship gre w, it carried within it the values by which I tried to live my life: integrity, dignity, justice, quality, hope and faith. To receive recognition that an organisation serving 7.5 million people could grow from integrity of purpose, rather than ambition means more to me than any award. It honours the beliefs that have guided my life – and to be awarded for it? It is like a dream, and gives me such humility – it is beyond anything I can express.”

Edgar O Chua, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Chairperson, said, "Though the paths of Tommy Koh, Runa Khan, and Bo Kyi differed, each reminds us that the true course of a life is forged by what we choose to do with the truths we encounter," said Chua. "They did not set out intent on bending the arc of history. They simply looked upon a broken world, recognised a wrong, and decided that they could not look away. The three 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees we honour today remind us that the meaning of our journey is found not in avoiding these moments, but in having the courage to not look away, when they do happen," he added. "As we leave here today, let us carry that sensitivity forward, trusting that our small, everyday choices to stand with others has the power to shape a more compassionate future”.

Runa Khan was one of three recipients of the 2026 Award. The other laureates were Tommy Koh of Singapore, recognised for his contributions to diplomacy and international cooperation, and Bo Kyi of Myanmar, honoured for supporting political prisoners and survivors of torture, and advancing accountability and human rights. Together, the laureates represented humanitarian innovation, international cooperation, and the defence of human dignity.

The three laureates joined a distinguished roster of past recipients, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Dr Muhammad Yunus and Mother Teresa, development leader Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and the Dalai Lama. The award acknowledged not only Khan’s leadership, but also the determination of the communities, colleagues, and supporters who had helped shape Friendship’s work.