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".
Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the Padma Vibhushan, the Dr. Ambedkar International Award, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Templeton Prize and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. He is also known as the modern Gandhi of India.
Hu Shuli is the founder and publisher of Caixin Media. She is also the professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Sun Yat-sen University and the adjunct professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China.
Ela Ramesh Bhatt was an Indian cooperative organiser, activist and Gandhian, who founded the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) in 1972, and served as its general secretary from 1972 to 1996. She was the chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith from 7 March 2015 to 19 October 2022. A lawyer by training, Bhatt was a part of the international labour, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements and won several national and international awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1977), Right Livelihood Award (1984) for "helping home-based producers to organise for their welfare and self-respect" and the Padma Bhushan (1986).
Sandeep Pandey is an Indian social activist and the present General Secretary of the Socialist Party (India). He co-founded Asha for Education with Dr. Deepak Gupta and V.J.P Srivastava while working on his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught as a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, NALSAR University of Law and Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi.
Shantha Sinha is an Indian anti-child labour activist. She is the founder of Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation, popularly known as MV Foundation, and is a professor in the Department of Political science in Hyderabad Central University. She headed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for two consecutive terms ; The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament. Sinha was its first chairperson. She was awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1998.
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.
Chung To (杜聰) is a Chinese AIDS activist, co-founder of the Chi HengFoundation (CHF). He was awarded the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.
Oung Chanthol is the founder and executive director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC). She has documented cases of rape, trafficking, and domestic abuse in Cambodia. Under her leadership, CWCC has mounted awareness campaigns against sex trafficking, educating local authorities and broadcasting radio and television messages. In 2001, Chanthol was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.
Aniceto Guterres Lopes is an East Timorese politician and human rights lawyer.
Mochtar Lubis was an Indonesian Batak 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.
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 ICMR Lifetime Achievement Award by Bill Gates.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan is a Bangladeshi attorney and environmentalist. She has particularly focused on regulations for the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, and was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2009. She was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012 for her "uncompromising courage and impassioned leadership in a campaign of judicial activism in Bangladesh that affirms the people's right to a good environment as nothing less than their right to dignity and life."
Soedjatmoko, more colloquially referred to as Bung Koko, was an Indonesian politician, intellectual and diplomat. Born to 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.
Lee Tai-young, also spelled Yi T'ai Yǒng, was Korea's first female lawyer [other sources refer to her as the first female lawyer in South Korea]. She was also the founder of the country's first legal aide centre. She fought for women's rights all through her career. Her often mentioned refrain was, "No society can or will prosper without the cooperation of women." Her dedication to law also got her the epithet "the woman judge."
Nileema Mishra is a social worker from the Indian state of Maharashtra. She received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2011. Nileema was born into a lower-middle-class family in 1972 in the village of Bahadarpur Taluka Parola, Maharashtra, District- Jalgaon, Maharashtra. She is a postgraduate in psychology from the University of Pune. After her education, she worked with Vigyan Ashram, Pabal under the guidance of Dr Kalbagh. She registered Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan formally in the year 2005 with the help of Dr Jagannath Wani. Nileema has association with Caring Friends, Mumbai and Let's Dream foundation, Delhi. She donated her award money to her Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan, which helps poor women through micro-financing. She was awarded Padma Shri in 2013 for social work.
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.
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.
Mandakini Amte popularly known as Manda Amte is a medical doctor and social worker from Maharashtra, India. She along with her husband, Prakash 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 Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. She is the daughter-in-law of Baba Amte.
Ko Swe Win is a Burmese journalist based in Australia. He currently serves as the chief correspondent and editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, a news service. He is currently the director of MYANMAR NOW LTD and MYANMAR NOW MEDIA PTY LTD.
