- By Chetna Shree
- Sun, 31 Aug 2025 08:39 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025: ‘Educate Girls’, an Indian non-profit organisation working for the education of out-of-school girls in remote villages, has been announced a winner of the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award. In a statement, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) said that the Foundation to Educate Girls, also known as Educate Girls, has made history by becoming the first Indian organisation to receive this honour.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, honours individuals and organisations that show exceptional courage and self-dedication in serving the people of Asia.
All You Need To Know About Educate Girls
Educate Girls was founded in 2007 by Safeena Husain, a London School of Economics graduate, who came to India from San Francisco to tackle female illiteracy. Educate Girls has been named Asia’s highest honour for “its commitment to addressing cultural stereotyping through the education of girls and young women, liberating them from the bondage of illiteracy and infusing them with skills, courage, and agency to achieve their full human potential,” the foundation said.
The non-profit organisation is working for the education of out-of-school girls in remote villages. “Starting out in Rajasthan, Educate Girls identified the neediest communities in terms of girls’ education, brought unschooled or out-of-school girls into the classroom, and worked to keep them there until they were able to acquire credentials for higher education and gainful employment,” the foundation added.
In 2015, the organisation launched the world’s first Development Impact Bond (DIB) in education, aiming to link financial aid to outcomes. “It began with 50 pilot village schools and eventually reached over 30,000 villages across India’s most underserved regions, benefiting more than two million girls, with a retention rate exceeding 90 per cent,” the RMAF added.
Other Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners
Other recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award include Shaahina Ali from the Maldives for her environmental work and Flaviano Antonio L Villanueva from the Philippines for his efforts to uplift the poor and marginalised, the RMAF said.
The 67th Ramon Magsaysay Award is scheduled to be held on November 7 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila. Awardees will receive a medallion bearing the likeness of President Ramon Magsaysay, a citation, and a cash prize.
