6 hours agoAuthor: Vineet Shukla
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‘Educate Girls’, an NGO promoting girls’ education in India, was honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award. This is the first Indian organization to receive this prestigious award. It was started by Safina Hussain in the year 2007.
Ramon Magsaysay is called the Nobel Prize of Asia. ‘Educate Girls’ is the first Indian NGO to receive the Magsaysay Award.
After graduating from the London School of Economics, Safina followed the traditional path. He started working with a startup in Silicon Valley. However, this trend did not last long and he left the job in just 9 months.
He then began his career in the community-based global development sector. Due to this he traveled to Latin America, Africa and South Africa.
Decision based on gender violence and inequality
In an interview, Safina says that we all are aware of gender violence and inequality. This problem is on a large scale. For example, 60 to 70 percent of girls in Rajasthan undergo child marriage. Across India, 46% of girls undergo child marriage. India is at number 1 in terms of girls being deprived of education.
Seeing all this, Safina thought that she needed to work on a large scale regarding girls’ education, so that their condition could be improved.
During that time Safina used to jokingly say that the government should give me 50 schools. In the next 5 years I will work in 5 thousand schools. Then everyone used to laugh.
Safina is the daughter of famous Bollywood actor Yusuf Hussain.
Started my work from Rajasthan
Safina returned to India in 2005. She landed at Delhi airport and went to HRD Ministry. Told the government that I want to work on girls’ education. You tell me about the most backward area of the country, where there is the most critical gender gap. Then the government gave the list of 26 districts out of approximately 650 districts. 9 out of 26 districts were from Rajasthan.
Then she went to the Rajasthan government. The state government gave a list of 25 schools each in two districts, Pali and Jalore. The gender gap was highest among these. Safina started her work from these 50 schools.
‘Educate Girls’ NGO started in 2007
Safin studied the problem of girls’ education for two years and then started an NGO named ‘Educate Girls’ in the year 2007. This NGO identifies girls in the age group of 5 to 14 years in rural and educationally backward areas and enrolls them in schools.
Started work at own expense
Safina says that when she started her work with 50 schools, she did not get any funds from anywhere. He started the work at his own expense. But when the results started appearing, the Rajasthan government gave permission to work in 500 schools and gave 5% support. Then when the government gave permission to work for an entire Pali district, it gave support of 17%. That is, as the government’s confidence increased, their support also increased.
‘Educate Girls’ is the first Indian organization to receive this prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.
More than 20 lakh girls benefited
Now her organization ‘Educate Girls’ is working in more than 30,000 villages in more than 85 districts of 4 states – Madhya Pradesh, UP, Bihar and Rajasthan. More than 20 lakh girls have benefited from this.
Under this, more than 23 thousand ‘Team Balika’ volunteers work. Volunteers go door-to-door to identify girls who have dropped out of school, address their parents’ concerns, and help them re-enter school.
This organization not only sends girls to school, but also ensures that they continue attending school and complete their studies. Besides, it also works to change the stereotypical thinking like ‘there is no need to educate girls’.
First bond of education sector launched
In 2015, ‘Educate Girls’ launched the world’s first ‘Development Impact Bond’ (DIB) in the education sector. In this, money is received only when the desired results are achieved. It started with 50 pilot schools in the village. This model was so successful that the organization has reached 30,000 villages so far. Also, more than 20 lakh girls have benefited from it.
Safina is married to film producer Hansal Mehta and has two daughters.
Open schooling program ‘Pragati’ started
The institution has also started an open schooling program named ‘Pragati’. With this, girls aged 15 to 29 years can complete their incomplete studies. This program also started with 300 girls. So far, more than 31,500 girls have benefited from this.
Magsaysay Award Ceremony held in Manila on 7 November
The 67th Ramon Magsaysay Awards were announced on August 31, 2025 and the formal ceremony was held on November 7, 2025 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila (Philippines).
The 25-member team of Educate Girls arrived in Manila to attend the Ramon Magsaysay Awards ceremony.
The team that arrived for the Ramon Magsaysay Award ceremony included field coordinators, girls volunteers and first generation learners.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Educate Girls CEO Gayatri Nair Lobo said, this award reminds us that when communities, governments, local partners, workers, volunteers and donors come together, the impossible can be made possible in the field of education. This is a recognition of our collective efforts and government initiatives.
The next goal of Educate Girls is to educate 1 crore girls by the year 2035. It has become the first Indian NGO to win the Magsaysay Award.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award is considered the Nobel Prize of Asia. It is given to those individuals and organizations who have rendered selfless service to the society.
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