Friendship founder Runa Khan has been named a recipient of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award for her more than two decades of work developing locally driven solutions for marginalised communities in Bangladesh.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced the winners of the 68th edition of the prestigious award in Manila on August 31, according to a press release. Often described as “Asia’s Nobel Prize,” the award has been given since 1958 in honour of Ramon Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippines.
Runa becomes the 14th Bangladeshi to receive the award. She began her work in Bangladesh’s remote riverine regions and founded Friendship in 2002. What started as a floating hospital has since grown into a wide-ranging organisation working in healthcare, education, climate action, sustainable economic development, inclusive citizenship and cultural preservation.
Friendship now provides services to around 7.5 million people each year. Previous Bangladeshi recipients include BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed and Grameen Bank founder Professor Muhammad Yunus.
