The 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award honours 3 Asian visionaries changing the world

In Bangladesh, Runa Khan saw a pressing need to assist climate-impacted communities isolated by the country’s massive river systems. Born in 1958 into privilege, she immersed herself in the lives of the poor, starting as a teacher in 1979. However, it was a 1997 visit to a char on the Brahmaputra River that deeply moved her to action. In 2002, she founded Friendship, a non-governmental organisation designed to support the marginalised people living on the shifting sandbars of northern Bangladesh. Over the past 22 years, Friendship has expanded into a massive operation employing more than 7,500 people, establishing a three-tier health system that ensures sustained care through seven hospital ships, two land-based hospitals, and 550 mobile clinics. Her organisation now serves riverine, coastal and refugee communities, including Rohingyas displaced from Myanmar.

Khan’s vision extends far beyond medical interventions, building resilience against the harsh realities of climate change. Friendship’s climate adaptation operations have built the country's first solar villages, afforested over 200 mangrove hectares, and trained more than 10,000 volunteers in rescue and relief. The organisation also created movable schools for climate migrants that can be dismantled in hours when erosion threatens; these schools have reached nearly 30,000 students who boast an astounding 90.05 per cent average in their secondary national exams. By establishing 137 Sustainable Economic Development Hubs that have generated jobs for over 205,000 people, and deploying paralegals to educate citizens on their rights, Khan has transformed invisible communities into empowered, resilient hubs of participation.

Bo Kyi’s work stems from his harrowing personal experience with political persecution. Just about to graduate in 1988 at the Rangoon Arts and Sciences University, he plunged into the “8888” pro-democracy resistance. He was arrested and spent a total of seven years in prison, enduring conditions so severe that he had to teach himself English in secret by writing on the concrete floor with a brick shard and eating dictionary pages to hide them from guards. Between detentions, the military attempted to recruit him as an informer, but he defiantly refused, demanding the release of all political prisoners and opting to return to jail rather than betray his peers.

Following his second release in 1998, Bo Kyi fled across the Thai border to Mae Sot, where he co-founded the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) in March 2000. Guided by the unwavering principle that “As long as political prisoners exist inside Burma, Burma will not be free,” the organisation relies on a vast network of volunteers, families, and lawyers to document abuses and support detainees. Today, AAPP remains a vital lifeline, actively exposing human rights violations and arbitrary arrests, especially those following the military coup in February 2021. Working with extraordinary courage, Bo Kyi and his team have brought thousands of forgotten names out of the darkness, connecting Myanmar’s struggle for accountability to the global fight for human dignity.

While Koh, Khan and Kyi operate in drastically different fields, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation selected them based on a shared ethos. Edgar O Chua, chairperson of the foundation, noted this connection during the announcement.

“For sixty-eight years, the Ramon Magsaysay Award has celebrated transformative leaders who have become enduring builders of a better future for Asia and the world,” Chua stated. “Each generation of Ramon Magsaysay Awardees has shown us that integrity, courage, and compassion can shape societies for the better. This year’s recipients stand firmly by that proud tradition.”

Read more: Igniting Action: The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

Susanna B Afan, president of the foundation, emphasised the overarching theme of this year’s awards, ‘A World for All’. “At a time when the world continues to confront uncertainty, division, and increasingly complex challenges, this year’s theme, A World for All, invites us to reflect on the kind of world we want to build together,” she said. “The lives and work of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees, Tommy Koh, Runa Khan and Bo Kyi, remind us that the choices we make and the work we do can reach far beyond our own lives and communities.”

These new laureates will be formally recognised during the 68th Presentation Ceremonies, which will be open to the public at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila on Sunday, November 15, 2026.

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