Asia’s highest honour recognises the organisation’s community-powered model that has brought over 2 million girls back to school.
India’s leading non-profit organisation Educate Girls has been named a 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, Asia’s premier prize and highest honour. It is the first Indian organisation ever to receive this award, in recognition of “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 non-profit joins a lineage of distinguished laureates, including filmmaker Satyajit Ray, singer M.S. Subbulakshmi, social reformer Kiran Bedi, and Vinoba Bhave, alongside international icons such as Nobel Peace Prize laureates the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, as well as Oscar-winning storyteller Hayao Miyazaki.
“Being the first Indian nonprofit to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award is a historic moment for Educate Girls and for the country. This recognition places a global spotlight on India’s people-powered movement for girls’ education, one that began with a single girl in the remotest village and grew to reshape entire communities, challenging traditions and shifting mindsets. This Award honours our dedicated Team Balika volunteers, valued partners, passionate gender champions, and supporters, and acknowledges the millions of girls who reclaimed their right to education. As we work to reach 10 million learners in the next decade and share this blueprint beyond India, we carry forward a simple truth that when one girl is educated, she takes others with her, multiplying change across families, generations, and nations,” said Safeena Husain, Founder, Educate Girls, reflecting on this milestone.
“At Educate Girls, we believe that education is one of the greatest levers for development. But above all, education is every girl’s fundamental and inherent right. This prestigious award recognises the transformational change that is possible through partnerships with the government, philanthropic institutions, corporations, and grassroots communities, working together to tackle societal and systemic barriers and promote equitable and accessible education for girls everywhere. We are deeply grateful to the Government of India for its phenomenal initiatives that have made this possible. Warm congratulations to our fellow awardees, Shaahina Ali and Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, whose work inspires us all,” added Gayatri Nair Lobo, CEO, Educate Girls.
Founded in 2007, Educate Girls has been working for nearly two decades to break cycles of poverty and illiteracy by empowering girls through education. It has worked across 30,000+ villages with the support of 55,000+ community volunteers, bringing over 2 million girls back to education and supporting over 2.4 million children in remedial learning. Educate Girls aims to impact over 10 million learners over the next decade, driving systemic change alongside government partnerships, while ensuring last-mile access for those girls and young women who are most at risk of being left behind. Educate Girls’ recognition highlights the global urgency of investing in girls’ education as a catalyst for social and economic transformation.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award celebrates greatness of spirit and transformative leadership across Asia. Awardees are chosen annually by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation from nominations submitted through a confidential, global pool of experts, undergoing a rigorous and independent evaluation process. Educate Girls’ selection reflects the maturity, innovation and impact of India’s development sector, which has long been at the forefront of people-powered solutions to complex social challenges.
Completing the roster of the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees are Shaahina Ali from the Maldives and Fr. Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva from the Philippines. Ali is being recognised for her fight against plastic pollution and for safeguarding fragile marine ecosystems in the Maldives. Fr. Villanueva received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work in restoring dignity to thousands of poor and homeless in Metropolitan Manila.
The 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees will formally receive their medallions and certificates during the 67th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Presentation Ceremonies on 7 November 2025 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila, Philippines.
