World Food Prize winner gave up rich life

The catastrophes of war and natural disaster changed the direction of Fazle Hasan Abed's life — and eventually, the lives of 150 million people struggling with hunger and poverty.

First, a massive cyclone in 1970 killed up to 500,000 people in Bangladesh. Then a nine-month war with Pakistan followed, resulting in Bangladesh's independence, but not before 3 millions people were killed.

"The death and devastation ... what I saw shocked and changed life," said 79-year-old Abed, honored Thursday night at the Iowa Capitol for his anti-poverty group's work as this year's World Food Prize winner.

"I really couldn't go back to my comfortable life" as an executive at Shell Oil Co. "I had to do something," Abed said Thursday, receiving the prize from Gov. Terry Branstad, surrounded by global political, business and research leaders.

Abed initially founded the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, thinking it would be a short-lived effort. Now the group, now known as BRAC, is the world's largest non-government development organization. It's focused on giving women the social and economic tools to help themselves and their communities.

Abed said the suffering he found pushed him to do more. "There were houses destroyed, livestock was decimated. ... That brought to me the extreme vulnerability of people in situations like this," he said.

"Poverty is so entrenched in our society that one has to commit lifelong to the struggle," Abed said. "Some people thought I was crazy to change my life to complete uncertainty, to help the poor."

"But it's given my life meaning, which I wouldn't have had if I had remained an executive," Abed said.

BRAC is credited with helping 150 million people through small loans, grants and programs to help lift them from poverty. One program that seeks to improve the lives of the ultra-poor is being replicated across the world. The country's poorest are given a “productive asset” such goats, a weekly stipend, small savings and intensive training and support.

Abed said research shows families' lives continue to improve, even four years after they left the program.

"The real heroes in our story are the poor themselves," Abed said at the ceremony. "In particular women who struggle with poverty, who overcome enormous challenges each day of their lives."

Despite cultural differences across countries, "the realities, struggles, aspirations and dreams of poor and marginalized people are remarkably similar," Abed said.

Scott MacMillan, a spokesman for BRAC USA, said the organization is built on the belief that the "world's poor are not the problem. They're the solution to poverty."

"When put into practice, it’s a powerful and meaningful idea," MacMillan said.

"They can become agents of their own change," he said.

Abed said BRAC has focused single-mindedly on addressing poverty and hunger through women. "We felt that women could play a much bigger role than they had been allowed to," he said.

"If there's no food in the household, and there are children who are hungry, what will the mother do? She will beg, borrow or steal to feed the children," Abed said. "If she can manage poverty, why not manage" the solutions.

For example, BRAC has 7 million microfinance clients, with $2.2 billion loaned annually. Ninety-six percent of the small loans go to women, Abed said.

"We are letting women take charge of poverty alleviation," he said. "We're giving them some power in the household. ... They have a voice."

The World Food Prize, viewed by many as the Nobel Prize for agriculture, was created by Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize an individual whose work has helped improve the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world.

Abed said he was humbled to receive the award, but added that it belonged to more than him. "It is a recognition of BRAC's work over the last 43 years in providing pathways out of poverty for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh and other countries."