Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation and architect of Bangladesh’s independence, and Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib.

She was an active participant in the 1969 mass uprising and a supporter of the Liberation War of 1971.

She survived six years in exile following the assassination of her father, mother and three brothers in 1975.

While still in exile, she was elected as the leader of the Awami League, the largest political organisation in Bangladesh, co-founded by her father.

In 1986, she entered parliament as the leader of the opposition; ten years later she became prime minister, leading the first government since independence to complete a full five-year tenure.

In 1997, she signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, ending decades of violence, confrontation and hostility between the government and tribes within the region.

In 1996, Sheikh Hasina broke the state-controlled monopoly on telecoms in the country, issuing three GSM mobile licences to private companies.

Since becoming prime minister for the second time in 2009, Sheikh Hasina has overseen a three-fold increase in national GDP.

In 2018, Bangladesh met the criteria to graduate from the United Nations Least Developed Country classification, moving on a path to becoming a developing country.

In 2019, the Asian Development Bank ranked Bangladesh as the fastest-growing economy in the Asia–Pacific region, eclipsing China, Vietnam and India.

Having delivered on the Awami League’s Vision 2021 pledge to make Bangladesh a middle-income country, Sheikh Hasina launched in 2021 the Vision 2041 roadmap for transformation to a developed, poverty-free country within two decades.

Bangladesh is set to become the 25th-largest global economy by 2035, according to the UK’s Centre for Economics and Business Research in its 2020 survey of 193 countries.

The National Women Development Policy, introduced in 2011, sought to establish equal rights for men and women, and included specific goals such as assistance for female entrepreneurs.

In 2012, Bangladesh, in association with UNESCO, organised the first Cultural Diversity Ministerial Forum of the Asia–Pacific Region in Dhaka.

Since 2012, Sheikh Hasina’s government has recognised transgender as an official third gender, leading to recognition of the rights of around 10,000 previously marginalised people.

In 2014, Sheikh Hasina received a special Peace Tree memento from UNESCO as a tribute to her work to improve female education.

In 2013, her government introduced legislation to protect the rights and welfare of people with disabilities and facilitate their participation in society.

Women’s empowerment is one of ten ‘Special Initiatives’ introduced by
Sheikh Hasina in 2015 and personally overseen by her since then.

Sheikh Hasina tackled persistent power shortages in the country, implementing reforms in 2009 to liberalise the sector and build new power plants.

Since 2009, her government has overseen construction of 121 powerplants with a combined capacity of 20,342 megawatts (MW) and brought electricity to 100 per cent of the population. The country now has a combined capacity to produce 25,284MW of electricity.

In September 2021, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated five new power plants, adding 879MW of new energy to the grid.

In 2019, Bangladesh approved plans for a liquefied natural gas-fuelled power plant in Payra, which will be the country’s largest electricity generator, adding 3600MW of capacity.

In 2021, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the installation of reactor pressure vessels within Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s first nuclear power plant.

In 2018, Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone for the landmark Matarbari thermal power plant, which will add 1200MW of capacity by 2026.

In 2010, the government introduced the Environment Court Act, expediting the trial of environmental crimes.

Sheikh Hasina received the United Nations Champions of the Earth award in 2015 for her leadership and vision in making climate change a national priority issue.

Sheikh Hasina’s government passed the Bangladesh Biological Diversity Act in 2017, and has designated over 5 per cent of the country’s total terrestrial area as ‘protected and ecologically critical’.

Representing Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina currently chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF),advocating for nations most impacted by climate change.

Sheikh Hasina also chaired the CVF from 2011 to 2013, and played a key role in setting up the forum’s first trust fund, focusing on the need to build resilience.

Led by Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh produced in 2021 the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, a world first, outlining detailed strategies to enhance resilience, grow the economy and create jobs via action on climate change.

Between 2010 and 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s policies helped to lift 8 million Bangladeshis out of poverty, according to data from the World Bank.

Bangladesh’s Vision 2041, introduced by Sheikh Hasina’s government, has outlined plans to eradicate extreme poverty by 2031 and reduce all poverty to 3 per cent or less by 2041.

Supported by the United Nations Development Programme, her government is implementing a programme called Strengthening Women’s Ability for Productive New Opportunities (SWAPNO), to help extremely poor rural women.

The SWAPNO programme offers work opportunities with 18-month fixed-wage contracts for ultra-poor and vulnerable women, as well as support to help them save and budget.

Sheikh Hasina’s government has worked to develop digital payment infrastructure and promote the uptake of mobile money to support the poorest communities in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina received a UN award in both 2011 and 2013 for her efforts in alleviating poverty and reducing the maternal mortality rate with the help of ICT.

Funding of a responsive social safety net programme is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s top priority.

US$12.51 billion was allocated for the country’s social safety net programme in 2021–22 Fiscal Year, eight times more than in the 2008–09 Fiscal Year.

Sheikh Hasina’s government provides allowances to a total of 10.5 million individuals – elderly, divorced, widowed, disabled, transgender, ethnic minorities, beggars, tea garden workers, and ultra-poor people – under the social safety net programme, and to almost 4 million families under the poverty alleviation programme.

Under the prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the percentage of poor and ultra-poor has fallen to below 20.5 and 10.5 per cent respectively in recent years, from 40 and 25.1 per cent in 2005.

As part of Sheikh Hasina’s Ashrayan-2 Project, a plan to house all of the country’s 885,622 homeless and destitute families, accommodation in the form of modest shelters had already been provided to 496,108 such families by February 2022.

In Mujib Year (2020–21) alone 117,329 houses were built and an additional 54,551 houses were under construction. Sheikh Hasina has promised that soon no one will live homeless in Bangladesh.

In 2010, Sheikh Hasina created the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority to boost trade and increase diversification of industry, employment, production and exports.

Under Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has been an important participant in the China-led Belt and Road Initiative, bringing transport and energy projects to the country and benefiting local businesses.

Sheikh Hasina has introduced incentives for expatriates to invest in Bangladesh and issued directives to the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority to remove any investment barriers.

In 2017, she secured duty facilities for 10,677 products from member countries of the Asia–Pacific Trade Agreement, of which Bangladesh is a founding member.

Sheikh Hasina has signed multiple bilateral cooperation agreements with China, in line with the strategic partnership formalised between the two countries in 2016.

In 2015, Bangladesh approved a revised trade deal with India, by which the two countries enabled transport of goods across each other’s territories and removed long-standing barriers.

Bangladesh has established more than 13,000 community clinics across the country, providing primary healthcare as a flagship part of the government’s plan to revolutionise healthcare delivery.

These clinics played a vital role in Bangladesh’s response to COVID-19, particularly in rural areas, through contact tracing, facilitating home quarantine and educating people about preventive measures.

In 2018, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the world’s largest burns and plastic surgery institute in the Chankharpul area of Dhaka.

Measures put in place by Sheikh Hasina’s government have helped end food shortages and ensure Bangladesh’s agriculture system is robust.

Bangladesh was one of the few countries to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goal of reducing under-five child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

Sheikh Hasina oversaw a rapid economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, initiating 28 separate stimulus programmes totalling US$22.1 billion and prioritising the neediest sectors of the population.

In 2021, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Bangladesh Infrastructure Development Fund to finance a variety of new development projects via the country’s foreign currency reserves.

In 2020, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first-ever expressway in Bangladesh, connecting Dhaka to Bhanga Upazila in Faridpur.

Sheikh Hasina signed a preferential trade agreement with Bhutan in 2020; infrastructure construction and improved transport connectivity will be key features of this deal.

In 2019, Bangladesh launched Sylhet as the country’s first digital city, with free WiFi access across the city, as well as automated traffic monitoring and the country’s first digital hospital.

Numerous other mega projects are underway in Sylhet, including multi-lane highways, a new medical university, a marine academy, a textile engineering college and a high-tech industrial park.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge, a symbol of national pride and capability of the country under the steadfast leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was inaugurated by her on 25th June 2022. It is the longest bridge in South Asia at 6.15 km.

In 1996, Sheikh Hasina signed a landmark agreement with India for water-sharing from the Ganges river.

Following the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in 2017, Sheikh Hasina lobbied the international humanitarian community for global cooperation to meet their needs, leading to the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis.

In 2021, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the newly constructed Bangladesh House in Maryland, cementing ties with the US.

Bangladesh has housed the world’s largest refugee population, providing refuge for over 1 million Rohingya people who have fled genocide at the hands of the military dictatorship in their homeland of Myanmar.

In September 1999, the UN General Assembly first adopted Sheikh Hasina’s resolution to promote a ‘Culture of Peace’, and it has continued to adopt this resolution every year since then.

Bangladesh is the world’s largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, deploying 6403 personnel to nine missions as of January 2022.

In 2009, Sheikh Hasina approved a revamped education policy, designed to improve literacy rates; since then, literacy has risen from 52 per cent to almost 75 per cent of the population.

Under Sheikh Hasina’s government, around 42 million students from pre-school level to secondary level receive free text books every year.

Sheikh Hasina’s reforms have included generous financial aid for students from primary-school level to university level, including scholarships for PhD-level students and researchers.

In 2014, Sheikh Hasina announced plans to eradicate illiteracy among women and girls, as part of a ‘targeted vision’ to improve opportunities for women in order to reduce poverty and inequality.

In 2016, she launched new interactive digital multimedia content covering the entire primary school curriculum, to make learning more engaging and accessible for children.

In 2017, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated a programme to bring online education to the remote island of Moheshkhali, enabling children to interact in real time with teachers on the mainland.

As in all other sectors, Sheikh Hasina has opened up the education sector to private investment.

Since 2009, she has approved 23 public universities and 54 private universities, in specialised fields such as aerospace and aviation, science and technology, agriculture, veterinary, medical, maritime, textiles, and fashion design.

In 2009, Sheikh Hasina introduced the a2i programme to improve education and citizens’ access to government information.

In 2021, she initiated a project to establish Technical Training Centres in all upazilas to increase numbers of skilled workers employable in the local and overseas job markets.

Bangladesh has also introduced an online teachers’ portal through which experienced teachers train and mentor less experienced colleagues, with access to a vast array of customisable resources.

Sheikh Hasina has helped protect the nation by more than doubling the defence budget, to over US$4 billion per year.

In 2009, Bangladesh introduced ‘Forces Goal 2030’, the first plan to modernise the country’s armed forces, involving significant purchases of military equipment.

In 2021, Bangladesh signed a defence cooperation agreement with France, as part of a common vision to create a free, open, peaceful, secure and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Sheikh Hasina has also deepened defence ties with India, including agreeing a US$500 million line of credit for defence imports for the Bangladesh armed forces.

Under Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has also signed agreements with China to advance bilateral military cooperation.

Sheikh Hasina is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh, and has been elected four times.

In 2019, she was named as one of the 10 top global thinkers in the Defence and Security category by the US-based Foreign Policy magazine.

Sheikh Hasina was recognised as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ by Time magazine in 2018.

In 2021, Sheikh Hasina was recognised with the Eminent Persons Award by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, for her role in fighting fundamentalism, militancy and terrorism.

She was also ranked among the top 50 most powerful women in the world by Forbes in 2021.

In 2021, Sheikh Hasina became the longest-serving incumbent female head of government in the world.