Friendship Luxembourg Founder to Receive 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award

On Monday 31 August 2026, local non-profit organisation Friendship Luxembourg announced that its founder, Runa Khan, has been named a recipient of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Friendship Luxembourg said that Runa Khan, Founder of Friendship Bangladesh (2002) and Friendship Luxembourg (2006), was recognised for the award for her more than two decades of leadership in building integrated and locally-led development solutions that enable marginalised communities to live with dignity, opportunity and hope. 

Runa Khan is the 14th recipient of the Award from Bangladesh, after, in particular, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen, and from India Mother Teresa, both later recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace. Mother Teresa had travelled to Bangladesh in the nineties and blessed the river barge that would later become Friendship Bangladesh’s first hospital ship. Other recipients include Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC), the Dalai Lama and Japanese film maker Akira Kurasawa.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s premier prize and highest honour, recognising “greatness of spirit” and “transformative leadership” in Asia. Widely recognised internationally as the “Nobel Prize of Asia”, the award was established in 1957 in memory of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and with the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

According to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, “in over six decades, the award has been bestowed on 353 individuals and organisations whose selfless service has offered their societies, Asia, and the rest of the world successful solutions to some of the most intractable problems of human development.” 

“It is with great happiness and profound humility that I accept the 68th Ramon Magsaysay Award 2026. There is no leader who walks alone, so it is an honour for me to receive this on behalf of the unaddressed communities, who allow us to walk beside them; and on behalf of my Friendship Family whose tireless devotion makes this work possible every day. I thank also those who have trusted and walked this almost impossible path with me for 25 long years - just believing – [and] my children whose patience and understanding awes me. This recognition is a wonderful responsibility and I offer my deepest gratitude to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for their trust and for honouring the enduring faith and power of humanity,” said Runa Khan.

The formal award ceremony will be held on Sunday 15 November in Manila, Philippines.

Earlier this year, Friendship Luxembourg marked the 20th anniversary of its support for development projects in Bangladesh.