Indian non-profit Educate Girls wins Ramon Magsaysay Award, dedicates honour to 55,000 volunteers

Indian nonprofit Educate Girls has received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award and dedicated the honor to the thousands of field coordinators, volunteers and youth mentors who have helped millions of girls in the country get back to school.

The award was announced to the public on August 31, and the official ceremony took place on Friday at the Metropolitan Theater in the Philippine capital.

Founded in 2007, Educate Girls works in over 30,000 villages in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar to break cycles of poverty and illiteracy.
With the support of more than 55,000 community-based volunteers, the nonprofit has brought more than two million girls back to school and supported more than 2.4 million children through remedial learning programs.

While accepting the award, Founder Safeena Husain said: “This award is for our girls who inspire us with their bravery, courage and resilience. It is for girls who manage household responsibilities and study late into the night to build brighter futures for themselves, their families and their country.”

“With this recognition, we honor the parents, teachers, community members and 55,000 Team Balika volunteers who stand up for our girls every day. Their dedication shows that every girl has opportunity, choice, voice and action when communities come together to educate girls.” CEO Gayatri Nair Lobo said this honor is a reminder of the incredible power of people coming together around a single cause to educate girls. “This honors our collective efforts, innovative programs and effective government initiatives. More importantly, it fuels our ambition to reach the next milestone of 10X10 – 10 million students by 2035. Millions of girls around the world are still waiting for their chance to learn, and we are determined not to keep them waiting any longer,” she said.

In presenting this honor, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation cited Educate Girls’ “commitment to addressing cultural stereotypes through the education of girls and young women, freeing them from the bondage of ignorance and instilling in them the skills, courage and agency to realize their full human potential.”

The 25-member Educate Girls team, consisting of field coordinators, volunteers and first-generation students, traveled to the Philippine capital for the awards ceremony.

Considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Prize rewards transformative leadership and “greatness of spirit.” Award recipients are selected each year through a confidential global nomination process and rigorous evaluation.