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A BIOGRAPHY OF SIR FAZLE HASAN ABED
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG is the name of keystone to holistic education of Bangladesh. He was the founder and chairperson of BRAC (Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee), the world’s largest NGO (non-government organization). He started BRAC in 1972 as a small relief and rehabilitation project in north-eastern Bangladesh. Over the past years, BRAC has grown to become the largest nongovernmental development organization and one of the most effective organization in the world.
In both 2014 and 2017, he was named in Fortune’s List of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. He was also recognized by Ashoka as one of the ‘global greats’ and was a founding member of its Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services in tackling poverty and empowering the poor in Bangladesh and globally.
Based on its innovation, impact and governance, BRAC was ranked by Geneva-based ‘NGO Advisor’ as the number one NGO in the world in 2019 for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1972, and operating across 11 countries in Africa and Asia, BRAC’s primary objectives are alleviating poverty and empowering the poor.
Sir Fazle was honored with numerous national and international awards for his contributions in social development, including the LEGO Prize (2018), Laudato Si’ Award (2017), Thomas Francis, Jr Medal in Global Public Health (2016), World Food Prize (2015), Spanish Order of Civil Merit (2014), Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal (2014), WISE Prize for Education (2011) among others.
He received many honorary degrees including Princeton University (2014), the University of Oxford (2009), Columbia University (2008) and Yale University (2007).
In August 2019, Abed retired as the chairperson of BRAC Bangladesh and BRAC International, and became chair emeritus.
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Name: Fazle Hasan Abed
Profession:
Entrepreneur
Founder and
Chairman of BRAC
Social Worker
Date of Birth: April 27, 1936
Place of Birth: In the village of Baniachong, located in what is present-day Habiganj District, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Religion: Islam
Education: Pabna Zilla School, Pabna, University of Glasgow, Dhaka College, Naval Architecture
Father: Siddiq Hasan
Mother: Syeda Sufia Khatun
Spouse: Sarwat Abed
Children: Two (Tamara Abed, Shameran Abed)
Years active: 1936-2019
Died: December 20, 2019
Dying Age: 83 years
Dying Place: Apollo Hospital (now Evercare Hospital Dhaka) in the capital on Friday
Reason For Death: Breathing problems and physical weakness
Notabe Awards:
World Food Prize
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)
The WISE Prize for Education
Open Society Prize
Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal by The Russian Children Foundation (RDF)
Thomas Francis, Jr. Medal in Global Public Health
Jose Edgardo Campos Collaborative Leadership Award
Laudato Si’ Award (Institution Category)
LEGO Prize
Yidan Prize
Birth and Parentage of “Sir Fazle Hasan Abed” :
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was born on 27 April in 1936 in Baniachang village of Habiganj district. He was the son of Siddique Hasan and Syeda Sufia Khatun. He belonged to a Zamindar family and was one of eight children of his parents. Siddique Hasan was the sub-registrar of Habiganj. Siddique Hasan and his brothers attended St Xavier’s School and College in Kolkata.
Sir Fazle’s paternal grandfather was Khanbahadur Rafiqul Islam and his maternal grandfather was Khanbahadur Syed Moazzem Uddin Hossain, who hailed from Austagram in Kishoreganj district. Syed Moazzem Uddin Hossain was a provincial minister, first for agriculture and later for education, during the end of the British rule. Sir Fazle’s other paternal grandfather Nawab Justice Sir Syed Shamsul Huda served the executive committee of the Bengal Presidency Governor as its member. He was among the chief initiators of the University of Dhaka.
Education :
Sir Fazle went to several schools, firstly Habiganj Government High School, then Cumilla Zilla School, and finally Pabna Zilla School, from where he passed his matriculation in 1952. He passed higher secondary exams from Dhaka College in 1954. He took admission in the University of Dhaka to study honours in physics, but did not complete, and moved to England. There he studied naval architecture at the University of Glasgow in Scotland for two years but left the department to study accounting. He completed cost and management accounting in 1962.
Early Life :
In 1954, Abed left home at the age of 18 to attend University of Glasgow After passing intermediate from Dhaka College, where he studied naval architecture. There he started an effort to break away from tradition and do something radically different. He realized there was little work in ship building in East Pakistan and a career in Naval Architecture would make returning home difficult. With that in mind, Abed joined the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London, completing his professional education in 1962.
Starting of Humanitarian Engagement:
In 1968, Sir Fazle returned to the then East Pakistan. He joined Shell Oil in 1970 as the head of finance and was posted in Chattogram. It was during his time at Shell that the devastating cyclone of 1970 (12 November) hit the south and south-eastern coastal regions of the country, killing 300,000 lives. Sir Fazle travelled to Monpura (one of the worst hit remote islands) along with friends and colleagues to distribute relief. To continue the relief operations, later they formed an organization called HELP to continue the relief operations.
When the Liberation War broke out in 1971, Sir Fazle resigned from Shell Oil and moved back to London to campaign for the independence of Bangladesh.
Role in Campaign for Independence :
In May 1971, Sir Fazle arrived in London. To campaign for the independence of Bangladesh, he founded two organizations; Help Bangladesh and Action Bangladesh, along with a number of like-minded people.
Action Bangladesh campaigned for garnering public as well as political support from Western governments, particularly to stop atrocities by the Pakistani army. Help Bangladesh focused on raising funds for freedom fighters.
Founding and Leading BRAC to become World’s number one NGO :
Sir Fazle returned to independent Bangladesh in 1972. Before returning, he sold his small London flat to initially fund the relief work he was about to undertake for the refugees coming back from India. He established Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) and began relief and rehabilitation work in Sulla and Dirai upazilas of Sunamganj.
On 1 February 1972, the first phase of BRAC’s intervention in Sulla commenced. Hence it is the official date of BRAC’s establishment.
BRAC began providing microloans in 1973. Sir Fazle was one of the earliest proponents of microfinance in Bangladesh. His aim was to help poor communities overcome poverty through microloans. Later on, BRAC also pioneered the ‘graduation approach’, a model for assisting people to sustainably overcome extreme poverty. The effectiveness of this model was proved in studies by renowned institutions, and has been scaled up in over 40 countries as of 2019.
Over the course of its five decades of operations, BRAC has innovated many successful community-driven social and economic empowerment models to sustainably fight poverty and extreme poverty across continents. BRAC began international operations in 2002 in Afghanistan and now runs development programs in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, including Bangladesh.
BRAC was ranked the world’s number one NGO for four years in a row, from 2016 to 2019, by NGO Advisor, a Geneva-based independent media entity, for its innovative, cost-effective and evidence-based programs.
Sir Fazle led BRAC as its executive director from 1972-2001. He then assumed the position of chairperson and held it till 2019, retiring on 1 August 2019 to become its chairperson emeritus.
Founding and Leading BRAC University and BRAC Bank:
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed founded BRAC University in 2001. He served as the chairman of its board of trustees from its founding year till 2019, retiring on 24 July 2019.
He also founded BRAC Bank in 2001. He was its chairperson in two phases, from 2001-2008, and from 2013-2019, retiring on 26 August 2019.
Honorary Degrees:
✔ 1994 – Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Queen’s University, Canada
✔ 2003 – Honorary Doctorate of Education, University of Manchester, UK
✔ 2007 – Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Yale University, US
✔ 2008 – Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Columbia University, US
✔ 2009 – Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Oxford, UK
✔ 2009 – Honorary Doctorate in Humane letters, Rikkyo University, Japan
✔ 2010 – Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, University of Bath, UK
✔ 2012 – Doctor of Laws honoris causa, University of Manchester, UK
✔ 2014 – Honorary Degree of Doctor of Civil Law, Sewanee: The University of the South, US
✔ 2014 – Honorary Doctor of Laws, Princeton University, US
✔ 2016 – Honorary Degree of Doctor of Education, University of Bradford, UK
Leadership Roles in Other Organization :
Sir Fazle sat in the boards, strategic and executive committees in numerous eminent national and international institutions. Below is a brief:
✔ Chairperson, Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB)(1982-1986)
✔ Senior Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) (1982-1986)
✔ Chairperson, NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation (1990-2009)
✔ Chairperson, Ain O Salish Kendra (1993-1994 and 2007-2009)
✔ Member, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
✔ Chairperson, Gono Shakkhorota Abhijan (1990-2009)
✔ Member, NGO Committee of the World Bank in Geneva (1986-1991)
✔ Chairperson, South Asia Partnership (SAP) from (1987-1990)
✔ Member, International Commission on Health Research for Development under Harvard University (1987-1990)
✔ Member, SAARC’s South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (1992-1993)
✔ Member, Board of Governors, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK (1998-2004)
✔ Member, Policy Advisory Group of The Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), World Bank, Washington(1998-2005)
✔ Member, Board of Governors, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines (1999-2005)
✔ Global Chairperson, International Network of Alternative Financial Institution (2002-2008)
✔ Founding Member, Ashoka’s Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship
✔ Member, UN Secretary-General’s Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (2012)
Awards and Recongnitions for Sir Fazle Hasan Abed:
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed received numerous national and international awards and recognition for his pioneering role in many frontiers of socio-economic development in Bangladesh and outside. A short list of these awards is provided below in chronological order beginning from the latest:
✔ Yidan Prize, one of the highest international honours for promotion of education, from Hong Kong-based Yidan Prize Foundation (2019)
✔ Royal Knighthoodfrom King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands (2019)
✔ Lego Prizefor extensive contribution to early childhood development (2018)
✔ Laudato Si’ Awardfor creating opportunities for millions of people living in poverty to realise their potential (2017)
✔ The Jose Edgardo Campos Collaborative Leadership Awardfrom the Global Leadership Forum and World Bank Group, Washington DC (2016)
✔ World Food Prize for outstanding contribution in the agriculture and food sector (2015)
✔ Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal from the Russian Children’s Fund (2014)
✔ Spanish Order of Civil Merit for efforts in tackling poverty and empowering people living in poverty (2014)
✔ WISE Prize, one of the highest international honours for promotion of education, from the Qatar Foundation (2011)
✔ Knighthood from the Crown of England in recognition of services in reducing poverty in Bangladesh and internationally (2009)
✔ The then UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon named Sir Fazle as one of the most significant personalities of the developing nations (2010)
✔ Ashoka recognised Sir Fazle as one of the ‘Global Greats’ (2010)
✔ Entrepreneur for the World Award from the World Entrepreneurship Forum (2009)
✔ David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2008)
✔ Clinton Global Citizenship Award (2007)
✔ Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) Award for lifetime achievement in social development and poverty alleviation (2007)
✔ Gates Award for Global Health (2004)
✔ UNDP Mahbubul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development (2004)
✔ Recognised as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
✔ The Olof Palme Prize in 2001from Sweden (2001)
✔ Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1980)
Awards and Recongnitions Sir Fazle Hasan Abed Brought for BRAC:
✔ Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize, world’s largest annual humanitarian award (2008)
✔ Swadhinata Dibash Purashkar (স্বাধীনতা দিবস পুরস্কার), the highest civilian honour awarded by the Government of Bangladesh (2007)
✔ Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Award (1990) from Brown University in USA
✔ UNICEF Maurice Pate Award (1992)
✔ UNESCO Noma Prize, for meritorious work in literacy (1985)
Death:
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was suffering from malignant brain tumor and was admitted to the hospital in late November, 2019 on account of breathing problems and physical weakness.
He died at the Apollo Hospital (now Evercare Hospital Dhaka) in the capital on Friday, December 20, 2019 at 08:28 pm. At the time of his death, he was 83 years old.
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed is a “Global Greats” who will be remembered forever to the nation as well as to the whole world
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