27 December 2012, Dhaka. BRAC Founder and Chairperson, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed has been selected to receive a Central European University (CEU) Open Society Prize for 2013. The award is in recognition of Sir Fazle’s outstanding contributions to the principles of open society, and for his leadership and unwavering commitment to humanitarian aid and development as the founder of BRAC. 

Former recipients of the CEU Open Society Prizes include Sir Karl Popper (1994), Václav Havel (1999), Ricardo Lagos (2006), Carla Del Ponte (2007), Kofi Annan (2008), Martii Ahtisaari (2009), Louise Arbour (2010), the late Richard C. Holbrooke and Javier Solana jointly (2011), and Aryeh Neier (2012).  The prize will be presented in Budapest, Hungary, on 13th June 2013 at the annual commencement ceremony of Central European University. Sir Fazle will also deliver the commencement address on the topic of legal empowerment of the poor.

BRAC has been tackling poverty and empowering the poor, not only in Bangladesh, but also in 10 other countries spanning Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, changing lives of millions. In the span of four decades, BRAC has grown to become the largest development organisation in the world in terms of the scale and diversity of its interventions.

Central European University was founded in 1991, and is a new model for international education in Europe; a significant Central European convener on contemporary economic, social, and political issues; and a source of support for building open and democratic societies that respect human rights.