Educate Girls: Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025 Winner
The Foundation to Educate Girls Globally, known as Educate Girls, has been recognized as a 2025 Ramon Magsaysay awardee, marking a historic achievement as the first Indian organization to receive this award. This accolade is for their dedication to empowering out-of-school girls in India through education.
Foundation and Impact
- Mission: Addressing cultural stereotypes through educating girls, liberating them from illiteracy, and empowering them with skills and agency.
- Origins: Started in 2007 in Rajasthan with just two villages; now expanded to over 30,000 villages across India, impacting over two million girls.
- Founder: Safeena Husain, inspired by her own educational journey and challenges.
Key Strategies and Innovations
- Government Collaboration: Works closely with both state and national governments to align missions and ensure educational retention and learning outcomes.
- Community Involvement: Utilizes a model called Team Balika, involving local volunteers as gender champions.
- Innovation: Pioneered the Development Impact Bond (DIB) in education and developed an AI model to identify educational "hotspots".
Other 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees
- Shaahina Ali: Recognized for her environmental conservation work in the Maldives.
- Flaviano Antonio L Villanueva: Honored for his mission to uphold the dignity of the poor and oppressed in the Philippines.
