BRAC's Abed wins 2015 World Food Prize

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh, the internationally renowned founder and chairperson of BRAC, will be honoured as the 2015 World Food Prize Laureate.

The World Food Prize was conceived by Dr Norman E Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.

Since 1986, the World Food Prize has honoured outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world.

In 2014, this prize was awarded to eminent Indian plant scientist Sanjaya Rajaram for his outstanding contribution to pioneering technologies that led to India's Green Revolution.

The citation for the prize says Abed is receiving this award for "his unparalleled achievement in building a unique, integrated development organisation that many have hailed as the most effective anti-poverty organisation in the world."

Sir Fazle, who was knighted by the British Crown in 2009, has developed BRAC (formerly known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) into the world’s largest non-governmental organisation, which has helped raise at least 150 million people out of poverty.

The scale and impact of his work in Bangladesh and ten other countries is unprecedented.

"He pioneered a new approach to development that has effectively and sustainably addressed the interconnectedness between hunger and poverty," reads the citation for the prize.

Sir Fazle has broken new ground by melding scalable development models, scientific innovation, and local participation to confront the complex causes of poverty, hunger, and powerlessness among the poor, it says.