BRAC Founder Hailed as 2015 World Food Prize Laureate

This year's World Food Prize goes to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and head of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). Sir Fazle was awarded by the WFP Foundation with US$250,000 and honored his excellent achievements through BRAC, which is known as the most effective anti-poverty organization in the world. BRAC's headquarters is in Bangladesh, but it also operates programs in 10 other countries around the globe.  BRAC has engaged women in science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and math, benefitting local and global communities, and providing opportunities for about 150 million people worldwide. Thus, Sir Fazle and  BRAC's efforts have enhanced food security and led people out of poverty through dynamic and effective development programs.

"Being selected to receive the 2015 World Food Prize is a great honor. I consider this award recognition of the work of BRAC, which I have had the privilege to lead over the last 43 years. The real heroes in our story are the poor themselves and, in particular, women struggling with poverty. In situations of extreme poverty, it is usually the women in the family who have to make do with scarce resources. When we saw this at BRAC, we realized that women needed to be the agents of change in our development effort. Only by putting the poorest, and women in particular, in charge of their own destinies, will absolute poverty and deprivation be removed from the face of the earth," said Sir Fazle upon receiving his award at the ceremony presided over by U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack.

Sir Fazle's award was announced shortly after the United Nations reported that Bangladesh has successfully achieved the Millennium Development Goal to decrease hunger by half in 2015.

 

Read the news release from the World Food Prize Foundation for more details.