Bangladesh's Runa Khan has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2026 for her decades of services improving lives in remote, river-eroded, and climate-vulnerable areas of the country.She is the founder and executive director of the non-governmental organisation "Friendship".

Friendship began its operations in 2002, pioneering a hospital ship for the most unaddressed and deprived communities in the world living on sandbar islands, called chars, of the Jamuna river (Brahmaputra) in Bangladesh.

After the announcement of the award, Runa Khan said, “It is with great happiness and profound humility that I accept the Ramon Magsaysay Award. 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. 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.”

For Runa Khan, the recognition honours a body of work that began in Bangladesh’s remote riverine communities and evolved into an integrated model for delivering solutions based on a deep understanding of local realities. What started with a single floating hospital has grown into a social purpose organisation serving 7.5 million people annually across healthcare, education, climate action, sustainable economic development, inclusive citizenship, and cultural preservation.

Ajkaler Khobor/MK