Educate Girls NGO wins Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025

An Indian non-profit organisation, ‘Foundation to Educate Girls Globally’, dedicated to mobilise community and government resources for girls’ education in rural and educationally disadvantaged areas of India, has been named a 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee. This was announced by the Ramon Magsaysay foundation on Sunday. The Foundation, widely known as Educate Girls, is the first Indian organisation to receive the prestigious award, which is considered Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The Foundation, started in Rajasthan, was founded in 2007 by Safeena Husain. Safeena Husain, a graduate of the London School of Economics, then working in San Francisco, who decided to return home to India to take on the challenge of female illiteracy.

Other 2025 winners include Shaahina Ali from the Maldives for her environmental work and Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva from the Philippines. Each recipient will receive a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize. Considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award recognises the greatness of spirit shown in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.

The 67th Ramon Magsaysay Award presentation is scheduled for November 7 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila. The official press release of Ramon Magsaysay said, 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.

Founder of the “Educate Girls” Safeena Husain said, Educate Girls remains committed to breaking the cycle of illiteracy and poverty for girls. She said by scaling our programs, deepening government partnerships, and embedding community-led solutions, we strive to create a brighter, more equitable future with motto “one girl at a time”. The phrase “one girl at a time” reflects their core mission to create change through focused, grassroots efforts, including community mobilization, government partnership, and personalized support to overcome barriers like household chores and poverty, and to foster a societal shift in valuing girls’ education as a fundamental right.