[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Sir Fazle Hasan Abed named the 41st World Food Prize Laureate[/title][fusion_text]
Wednesday, July 1st 2015
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder and chairperson of BRAC – a 40-year old anti-poverty organization that focuses on empowering the poor, and in particular women and girls – was named the 41st World Food Prize Laureate Wednesday afternoon during a ceremony held at the State Department. BRAC – formally known as the Bangladesh Rural Achievement Committee – is the world’s largest non-governmental organization with over 120,000 employees. In addition to operating in Bangladesh, BRAC also works in 10 other countries to implement sustainable development initiatives that address hunger, poverty and powerlessness. To date, the organization has helped raised nearly 150 million people out of poverty, according to the State Department. Abed was born to a distinguished Bangladeshi family and received his education from the University of Glasgow. He worked for Shell Oil Company before he left corporate life to head a humanitarian organization aimed at helping the victims of a 1970 cyclone that hit south and southeastern Bangladesh, killing 300,000 people. In 1972, 10 million Bangladeshi refugees that had fled to India to escape the violence during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan returned to Bangladesh. Abed will formally receive the honor during a ceremony held Oct. 15 in Des Moines, Iowa. Norman Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, founded the World Food Prize in 1986. The prize is an annual $250,000 award that he hoped would both highlight and inspire breakthrough achievements in improving the quality, quantity and availability of food in the world. Today, the World Food Prize is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.”
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