Former minister for education Ms Gemma Hussey was given the "Women Who Make A Difference" award in Toronto, Canada, at the weekend.
The award was made to honour her work in eastern Europe and was presented by the International Women's Forum (IWF) at their global conference.
The citation said Ms Hussey was a founder member of the European Women's Foundation and has "designed and delivered workshops ... to guide women in these countries towards taking leadership positions in their new and often fragile democracies".
The Ireland Forum of the IWF nominated Ms Hussey for the award last summer.
Ms Hussey was minister for education from 1982 to 1986 and minister for social welfare from 1986 to 1987 in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition led by Dr Garret FitzGerald.
The award was presented by the former prime minister of Canada, Ms Kim Campbell, who is now president of the IWF. The group's aim is to "bring high-achieving women together across national and international boundaries to share knowledge and ideas, to provide a network of support and to work to promote women's leadership".