Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Prize

Yidan Prize for Education Development

Year

2019

Initiative

Keeping children learning through play during Covid-19

Creating high-quality, scalable play-based learning solutions

Contents

Bio

Judge's citation

Featured initiatives

Media

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Founder, BRAC

Expertise

Inclusion and equity in education; Early childhood development; Play-based learning; Skills for work and life; Sustainable development

Putting joy at the heart of early education and child development

For nearly 50 years, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed (April 1936–December 2019) championed education as a crucial catalyst for change. And as the Founder of BRAC — consistently ranked as the number one NGO in the world — he was instrumental in improving the lives of millions of people living in marginalized situations and post-disaster settings across Asia and Africa, with particular focus on women and children.

 

Early on, Sir Fazle spotted that women can be forces for change in Bangladesh, so he focused his educational vision on their empowerment. BRAC started as a relief and rehabilitation agency after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Born and proven in the South, today BRAC has become a world leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programs, and has been recognized as the number one development organization in the world for multiple consecutive years by Geneva-based independent media organization, NGO Advisor.

 

Sir Fazle led BRAC in setting up more than 1,400 early childhood development centres across Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Uganda, serving nearly 40,000 infants aged one to five. These centers promote play-based joyful learning, with children having access to play materials and play spaces designed to foster their development — a key part of Sir Fazle’s philosophy.

 

BRAC has also been driving early childcare projects in Bangladesh, where they have empowered young women to operate their own home-based day-care businesses, and in sub-Saharan Africa, with the construction of dozens of Play Labs.

 

Sir Fazle sadly passed away in 2019. He’s represented by Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International, and Dr Erum Mariam, Executive Director of the BRAC Institute of Educational Development, on the Yidan Council of Luminaries.

BRAC’s Play Lab projects demonstrate that the poorest and most vulnerable children can have access to quality and affordable Early Childhood Education.

Dorothy K. Gordon

Panel Head, Judging Panel for Education Development, Yidan Prize

Featured initiatives

Supported by the Yidan Prize project funds
Keeping children learning through play during Covid-19

Helping caregivers with play-based learning for little ones as well as psychosocial support — all through a phone call.

Supported by the Yidan Prize project funds
Creating high-quality, scalable play-based learning solutions

BRAC Play Labs help deliver quality play-based learning to children aged 0–5 in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Media

media

More about Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

9:41

2019 Yidan Prize for Education Development Laureate

media

Meet Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

4:03

Acceptance Speech