The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance,courageous service to the people,and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government. It is often called the "Nobel Prize of Asia".
Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines,from December 30,1953,until his death in an aircraft disaster on March 17,1957. An automobile mechanic by profession,Magsaysay was appointed military governor of Zambales after his outstanding service as a guerrilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served two terms as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales's at-large district before being appointed Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected president under the banner of the Nacionalista Party. He was the youngest to be elected as president,and second youngest to be president. He was the first Philippine president born in the 20th century and the first to be born after the Spanish colonial era.
Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur,who co-founded SELCO India in 1995.
Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel was an Indian independence activist,lawyer,and politician. A follower of Mahatma Gandhi,he is regarded as the father of the cooperative movement in India,most notably in the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union in 1946,and the Anand Co-operative movement.
Mahabir Pun is a Nepali researcher,teacher,social entrepreneur and an activist known for his work in applying wireless technologies to develop remote areas of the Himalayas,also known as the Nepal Wireless Networking Project. He is a widely known figure in Nepal,and his work has been recognised by the Ashoka Foundation,the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation,University of Nebraska at Kearney,and Global Ideas Bank.
Aniceto Guterres Lopes is an East Timorese politician and human rights lawyer.
Mochtar Lubis was an Indonesian journalist and novelist who co-founded Indonesia Raya and monthly literary magazine Horison. His novel Senja di Jakarta was the first Indonesian novel to be translated into English. He was a critic of Sukarno and was imprisoned by him,as well as by Suharto on several later occasions. He held strong anti-leftist views and was seen by critics as aligned with military and pro-US forces that were opposed to Sukarno’s non-aligned policies,a charge that he himself denied.
Prakash Baba Amte is a social worker from Maharashtra,India. Amte and his wife,Mandakini Amte,were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' in 2008 for their philanthropic work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. In November 2019 he was awarded with the ICMR Lifetime Achievement Award by Bill Gates.
Therdchai Jivacate is a Thai orthopedic surgeon and inventor known for his humanitarian activities in providing free prosthetic limbs to impoverished amputees,and for his development of techniques allowing low-cost,high-quality prostheses to be made from local materials. The activities of the Prostheses Foundation,which he founded in 1992 under royal sponsorship from the Princess Mother Srinagarindra,have expanded beyond the borders of Thailand to Malaysia,Laos,and Burma. Jivacate has established Thailand's first and only educational institution of occupational therapy at Chiang Mai University. He has also created an educational programme for children suffering from chronic diseases at Maharaj Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima. In 2008,he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service.
Sanduk Ruit is an ophthalmologist from Nepal who was involved to restore the sight of over 180,000 people across Africa and Asia using small-incision cataract surgery.
Soedjatmoko,more colloquially referred to as Bung Koko,was an Indonesian intellectual,diplomat,and politician. He was born into a noble father and mother in Sawahlunto,West Sumatra. After finishing his primary education,he went to Batavia to study medicine;in the city's slums,he saw much poverty,which became an academic interest later in life. After being expelled from medical school by the Japanese in 1943 for his political activities,Soedjatmoko moved to Surakarta and practiced medicine with his father. In 1947,after Indonesia proclaimed its independence,Soedjatmoko and two other youths were deployed to Lake Success,New York,to represent Indonesia at the United Nations (UN). They helped secure international recognition of the country's sovereignty.
Tri Mumpuni, also known as Bu Puni is an independent researcher,social entrepreneur,philanthropist,social activist,and micro-hydropower inventor who was involved in the project for the development of hydro power electricity for more than half a million people in Indonesia. In 2010 she was elected as board member of National Committee on Innovation. For her work she was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2011. On 13 October 2021,she was appointed a Member of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Steering Committee by Joko Widodo.
Hasanain Juaini is an Indonesian environmental conservationist,educator and winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Huo Daishan is a photojournalist and environmentalist,winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award. He is the founder of Guardians of the Huai River,which advocates for protection of the Huai River in China.
Fu Qiping is a leader and environmentalist who changed the structure of the economy of a village named Tengtou in China. He received Asia's most prestigious award,the Ramon Magsaysay Award,for his work.
Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto is social activist,investigator and founder of Telapak which promotes ecological justice,cultural integrity and economic empowerment in Indonesia. For his work he was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012.
A.H.M. Noman Khan is a pioneer in mainstreaming persons with disabilities in the development process of Bangladesh. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2010. He is the executive director of Centre for Disability in Development (CDD).
Harold Ray Watson is a retired missionary and pioneer in the field of agronomy. He is world recognized for developing a method of cultivating denuded mountain slopes,and for encouraging utilization of the method to help the poorest,small scale,tropical farmers,specifically in the Philippines. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1985.
Hans Westenberg was a Dutch-Indonesian agriculturist who was the recipient of 1972 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his practical propagation of new crops and promotion of better methods among Sumatra's small farmers who have learned to trust and profit from his ideas in Indonesia.
Pedro Tamesis Orata was a Filipino educator known as the Father of Barrio High Schools. He is also the founder of the Urdaneta Community College,the country's first community college,and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1971.
