Runa Khan

Khan was born on 17 November 1958, into a Bengali family descended from the Zamindars of Bengal. Her mother’s family traced its origins to the Karranis, the last dynasty of the 16th-century Bengal Sultanate. She grew up in a culturally diverse household where her father, Alim Khan, often hosted global thinkers, musicians, Zen monks, Hindu priests, Taizé Brothers, and ambassadors, involving her in wide-ranging discussions on music and philosophy from an early age. In 2013, she attended the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management programme at Harvard Business School, and in 2018 completed the Leadership for System Change programme at the Harvard Kennedy School. == Career in Development & Social Entrepreneurship ==

Early career In 1988, Khan started a boutique to provide work for Biharis and indigenous Bangladeshis, marking the beginning of her work in sustainable livelihoods for marginalised communities. In 2009, Friendship introduced solar home systems to the Chars and responded to Cyclone Aila. In 2010, vocational training centres for weaving and tailoring were launched. In 2011, Friendship developed an mHealth app to support FCMs, saw its first primary school cohort graduate, facilitated debt relief for fishermen in the southern coastal belt, commencement of cervical cancer screenings in communities, and opened the Friendship Centre training facility, which later won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Runa Khan was awarded as a Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation in 2012 at the “Meeting of New Champions” in Tianjin. The third hospital ship, Rongdhonu Friendship Hospital, began operations in 2012, and the Good Governance Program was launched. In 2013, water treatment plants were installed in the southern coastal belt of Bangladesh to address salinity and static clinics were established. By 2014, Friendship had introduced legal information booths and paralegal services. In 2015, Char Theatres—community performances addressing social issues—were launched, along with community-initiated disaster risk reduction activities and junior secondary schools. That year also saw the founding of Friendship France. In 2016, she was awarded the Green Award by Positive Planet. In 2017, the organisation began the Transition Fund Project and humanitarian support for Rohingya refugees, including learning centres. In 2018, a cyclone shelter was built, cyclone-resilient housing guidelines were co-developed with HBRI and the Government of Bangladesh, and the NODI Ltd. social enterprise was launched. 2019 she started the lifestyle brand Friendship Colours of the Chars, Bangladesh's first slow fashion brand, featuring sustainable products made by women primarily in char and other climate-affected communities. Mangrove afforestation efforts began in 2019 as well with Friendship soon having the largest private mangrove nursery in Bangladesh, alongside the first Colours of the Chars outlet and the establishment of Friendship Belgium. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Friendship provided emergency response and opened a primary healthcare centre in Bhashan Char, introduced career guidance services, launched the first Persons with Disabilities Centre, and opened a Colours of the Chars pop-up shop in Luxembourg. FCOC now has 3 retail outlets—1 in Luxembourg and 2 in Dhaka—and exports products to France, New Zealand and the USA. An interview of Runa Khan was published by Harvard Business School in 2019 as part of a series of conversations with Harvard faculty titled Creating Emerging Markets. In 2022, the organisation marked its 20th anniversary, inaugurated its first cyclone-resilient house, received the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award for the best new building in the world, and, in partnership with the Paris Saint-Germain Foundation, launched the first mobile sports library in Rohingya camps. From 2023-2025, five new floating hospital ships joined the fleet with support from the Islamic Development Bank, two solar villages were built, and two more disability centres and two disability-friendly boats were introduced. Students from the Connected Schools Program participated internationally—two girls at the European Parliament and two at COP28 in 2023, followed by four students (two girls and two boys) at the European Parliament in 2024–2025. On September 11, 2023 Runa Khan hosted the French president, Emmanuel Macron on Friendship's traditional panshi boat, the ''Flèche d'Or'', the largest and one of the last of its kind, during an official visit to the country. They were accompanied by climate scientist Saleemul Huq, high-ranking government officials of Bangladesh and France, and young climate activists on the boat trip, which cruised the Turag River. In 2025, Friendship won The Earthshot Prize in the “Fix Our Climate” category for its holistic, integrated approach in climate-affected regions of Bangladesh. The award recognised a model that combines climate resilience and adaptation with essential services such as healthcare, education, livelihoods support, disaster risk reduction, and access to justice. == Authorship ==

Runa Khan has authored and co-authored a number of books, articles, and chapters on development, education, humanitarian aid, and climate resilience. Her literary works include two collections of Bangladeshi folk tales: The Flower Maiden and Other Stories (2000, ISBN 984 05 1511 X) and Rani Kanchan Mala and Other Stories (2000, ISBN 984 05 1482 2), both later published by The University Press Limited based on traditional Bangladeshi folk tales, including some from Thakurmar Jhuli. Of the book chapters, the most notable is Beyond the North-South Dichotomy, a chapter in Reimagining Civil Society Collaborations in Development, published by Routledge in 2023. She has also developed several educational resources: the Play School Activities Book series (Books 1–2), the Radiant Workbook series (Books 1–4) on practical teaching methodology, and two further books of teaching methods for teachers and children. == Speaking Engagements ==

Khan has been an active voice at major international climate platforms. She has spoken at side events and pavilions during COP26, COP27, COP28, and COP29, and in 2025 addressed the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, the ChangeNOW Summit in Paris, and The Economist’s fireside chat “The Role of Storytelling and Philanthropy in the Climate Crisis.” In 2024, she spoke at SB60 in Bonn, Germany, and the Global Forum on Migration & Development, while in 2019 she participated in COP25 in Madrid, presenting on “Climate Resilient Health – Urgent Need for Policy and Finance.” Earlier, she was a panelist on “Innovative Climate Change Programming in Asia” at the Asian Philanthropy and Climate Change Forum in Hong Kong (2010) and chaired the International Level Sharing Meeting on Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Dhaka (2011). Her humanitarian and migration-related speaking roles include the International Dialogue on Migration (IOM) keynote in 2021, the Joint Response Plan Launch Event for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (UNHCR) in 2021, and the Learning Planet Festival in Paris (2024). She has participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos in both 2015 and 2020, and spoke at the National Humanitarian Conference in France in 2020. In the fields of leadership, social innovation, and development, Khan has addressed audiences at Sciences Po (2017), the Paperjam 10x6 Conference on Female Leadership in Luxembourg (2019), the Swiss Architecture Museum’s Bengal Stream exhibition in Basel (2018), the Asia Pacific Medical Devices Leadership Dialogue in Bangkok (2018), and the Printemps Solidaire Rally-Concert in Paris (2017). She has delivered keynote talks at World CSR Day in Mumbai (2016), the Convergences World Forum in Paris (2015), the ADB Transport Forum in the Philippines (2014), and the Impact Forum in Singapore (2013). Academic invitations include a guest lecture at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (2021), and TEDx Luxembourg City (2012). She has also participated in numerous conferences on social entrepreneurship and NGO work, including the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Conferences (2009, 2012), the Planetworkshops Global Conference in Evian (2012), and a CIHR-sponsored research planning meeting in Toronto (2012). In 2011, her speaking engagements included “Celebrating Social Entrepreneurship” at Delhi Technological University, the ALFI Microfinance Conference in Luxembourg, EHP Philanthropy in Luxembourg, the IHAN/ISEP Joint Satellite Workshop in Berlin, and the IAVE World Volunteer Conference in Singapore. Other forums have included ThinkFest at the Singapore Management University (2010), AMCHAM’s CSR event in Luxembourg (2010), and multiple microfinance and corporate social responsibility talks in Europe and Asia. ==References==