Brac founder and Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed has been honoured with the Trust Women 2014 Hero Award for helping women defend and promote their rights, according to a press release. 

He is the first man to receive this award.

The award giving ceremony took place at the Trust Women Conference in London on November 18. Simone Sultana, chair of Brac UK's Council of Trustees, received the award on behalf of Sir Abed from Queen Noor Al-Hussein of Jordan. Sir Abed was chosen from over 160 nominations received from more than 45 countries for the impact, scale and groundbreaking nature of Brac's operation under his leadership, says the press release issued yesterday.

Chairperson of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Dr Sima Samar, US Ambassador-at-large for Global Women's Issues Cathy Russell, lawyer and founder of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Cherie Blair and Vice-president of Ashoka Global Iman Bibars are among the thirteen members of Trust Women Advisory Board that selected Sir Abed for the award.

Last year's winner was Alaa Murabit, founder and president of The Voice of Libyan Women.

As the winner of the Hero Award, Sir Abed received a cash prize of $5,000.

The award is given every year to an innovator whose bold thinking and contribution has helped women to know and advance their rights. Every year the Trust Women Conference is organised by the global news and information provider Thomson Reuters's charitable arm, Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Nominations are made by the public and candidates are judged based on their leadership and the innovation, impact and scalability of their work.

Brac is a global leader in creating opportunities to end poverty. Having more than 100,000 employees, it is the world's largest non-government organisation, touching the lives of an estimated 135 million people in 12 countries through a wide array of anti-poverty tools such as microfinance, education, healthcare and legal rights training.

To learn more about Brac please visit www.brac.net.