New Delhi, September 01, 2025: Educate Girls, a leading non-profit working to improve access to education for girls in rural India, has been named a 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee. The organisation is the first Indian non-profit to receive Asia’s highest honour, which recognizes “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.”
Educate Girls now joins the ranks of notable Indian recipients such as Satyajit Ray, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Kiran Bedi, and Vinoba Bhave, along with international figures including the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and 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,” said Safeena Husain, Founder, Educate Girls. “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.”
Gayatri Nair Lobo, CEO, Educate Girls, added, “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.”
Founded in 2007, Educate Girls has worked across 30,000+ villages with the support of over 55,000 community volunteers. It has brought more than 2 million girls back to school and supported the learning of over 2.4 million children. The organisation now aims to impact 10 million learners in the next decade, driving systemic change alongside government partnerships and ensuring last-mile access for girls most at risk of being left behind.
The 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees also include Shaahina Ali from the Maldives, recognised for her work against plastic pollution and marine ecosystem protection, and Fr. Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva from the Philippines, honoured for restoring dignity to the homeless in Metropolitan Manila.
The awardees will be formally honoured at the 67th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Presentation Ceremony on November 7, 2025, at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila, Philippines.
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