BRAC chairperson receives Trust Women 2014 Hero Award
DHAKA, Nov. 19 (NsNewsWire) — BRAC founder and chairperson, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG has been honoured with the Trust Women 2014 Hero Award. His innovative work through BRAC has helped to defend and advance women’s rights. The ceremony took place at the two-day-long Trust Women Conference in London on 18 November where the award was presented to Sir Fazle by Queen Noor Al-Hussein of Jordan. Simone Sultana, Chair of BRAC UK’s Council of Trustees, received the award on his behalf.
Sir Fazle is the first man to receive the Hero award. Last year’s winner was Alaa Murabit, founder and president of The Voice of Libyan Women, while Dr Judi Aubel, co-founder and executive director of the Grandmother Project, received the award in 2012. As the winner of the Trust Women Hero award, Sir Fazle received a cash prize of USD 5,000.
Sir Fazle was chosen from over 160 nominations received from more than 45 countries, for the impact, scale and ground-breaking nature of BRAC’s work under his leadership. Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Dr. Sima Samar, US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, Cathy Russell, lawyer and founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Cherie Blair, and vice president of Ashoka Global, Iman Bibars, are amongst the thirteen members of the Trust Women advisory board which selected Sir Fazle for the Award.
The Trust Women Hero award celebrates an innovator whose bold thinking and high-impact work has helped women to know and advance their rights. Every year the Trust Women Conference is organised by the global news and information provider Thomson Reuters’s charitable arm, Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The annual Trust Women Awards honour two exceptional individuals who have provided real solutions to some of the challenges faced by women worldwide while raising awareness about women’s rights issues globally. Nominations are made by the public and candidates are judged based on their leadership and the innovation, impact and scalability of their work. The Trust Women Journalist award recognises a journalist who has made a significant contribution to the coverage of women’s rights. To know more please visit: http://www.trustwomenconf.com/about/awards/
BRAC is a global leader in creating opportunities as a means to end poverty. With more than 100,000 employees, it is the world’s largest non-governmental organisation, touching the lives of an estimated 135 million people in 12 countries using a wide array of antipoverty tools such as microfinance, education, healthcare, legal rights training and more. Learn more about BRAC at www.brac.net.