Shofiqure Rahman

International Luminary Award in Civic Works

The Rohingya Youth (TRY),

Bangladesh

Executive Director

Personal Highlights:

Rohingya youth leader, writer, and community advocate from the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh.
Founded and leads The Rohingya Youth (TRY), a youth-led initiative focused on leadership, education, community engagement, and advocacy.
University of the People — BSc Computer Science (ongoing).
Google Career Certificate — Data Analytics.
Diploma in Medical Science (DMS).
Founder — Rohingya Literary Foundation (RLF). Established a literary initiative focused on preserving Rohingya memory, language, culture, and voices.
IOY Ambassador — 2026–2027

Inspirational Success Story:

Shofiqure Rahman is a Rohingya poet, writer and youth activist who founded and serves as Executive Director of The Rohingya Youth (TRY), a youth-led initiative working to strengthen youth participation, leadership and community engagement among Rohingya young people. His civic contribution is rooted in a practical challenge facing Rohingya youth in the refugee community of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Young people constitute a significant part of the displaced population, yet many have limited opportunities to participate in decision-making, develop leadership skills, organize collectively, or contribute meaningfully to their communities. Recent UNFPA reporting, based on the 2025 Inter-Sector Needs Assessment, found that 72 percent of Rohingya youth reported having no opportunity to contribute to their communities or take leadership roles while 85 percent were not involved in programme planning, implementation or monitoring. This demonstrates the importance of creating genuine opportunities for youth participation rather than treating young people only as beneficiaries. In response to this environment, Shofiqure established The Rohingya Youth (TRY) as a platform through which Rohingya young people could organize, learn, participate and contribute to their community.

As Founder and Executive Director, Shofiqure has taken responsibility for developing the organization’s youth-focused activities, coordinating members, organizing initiatives, communicating with partners and encouraging young people to take active roles in community work. His approach is based on the principle that Rohingya youth should not merely be represented by others; they should have opportunities to develop their own leadership and participate directly in shaping their community.

A significant example of this work is TRY’s collaboration with the Rohingya Progressive Network (RPN) in a two-day Youth Leadership and Community Development Workshop. The initiative brought together more than 25 emerging Rohingya youth leaders for practical learning and dialogue. The documented training covered leadership, community development, project management, advocacy, communication, teamwork and youth participation. RPN publicly recognized TRY as a collaborating organization and described the workshop as an effort to equip young people to become responsible leaders, active citizens and contributors to positive change in the Rohingya community. This initiative illustrates the practical direction of Shofiqure’s civic work. Rather than limiting youth engagement to awareness campaigns, he has worked to create spaces where young people can acquire skills, exchange ideas and develop the confidence to participate in community life. His work also involves building a youth structure rather than organizing isolated activities. TRY has developed a membership and leadership framework through which Rohingya young people can become involved in community initiatives and assume responsibilities. This creates an opportunity for young people to gain experience in teamwork, communication, organization and civic participation while remaining connected to the needs of their community.

Shofiqure’s work is particularly significant because it has been developed from within the Rohingya refugee community itself. He understands the barriers facing Rohingya youth not only through observation but through his own experience as a young person living in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps. His work therefore focuses on creating opportunities for young people in the same community rather than speaking about youth participation from outside it. His public record also demonstrates a sustained commitment to youth advocacy and community representation. In May 2026, Pen To Print interviewed Shofiqure as a Rohingya poet, writer and youth activist and discussed his work, identity and advocacy. Rohingya Khobor has likewise profiled him as aRohingya youth activist, writer, researcher and poet engaged in education and advocacy.

Although Shofiqure is also known internationally for his literary work, his books are not the primary basis of this nomination. Their relevance to his civic work is that he has used writing as another means of communicating Rohingya experiences and ensuring that displaced people’s perspectives are heard beyond the refugee camps. His second poetry collection, Let Me Shine: A Voice from the Ashes, has been documented by Rohingya Futures and Pen To Print as a work addressing the Rohingya experience, identity, displacement and hope.

The central achievement for which Shofiqure deserves recognition in Civic Works is therefore his effort to move Rohingya youth participation from individual expression toward organized collective engagement. His contribution is not measured simply by the number of positions he holds or recognitions he has received. Its value lies in creating opportunities for other young people to participate, learn leadership, work collectively and contribute to their community.

This is especially important in a refugee setting where young people face limited educational opportunities, restricted pathways to livelihoods and significant barriers to participation. Current UN reporting emphasizes that Rohingya youth themselves have expressed a desire for greater opportunities to contribute to their communities and take leadership roles. Shofiqure’s work responds directly to this need by creating a youth-led platform and developing activities through which young people can participate. His civic leadership therefore represents a transition from speaking for a community to helping members of that community develop the capacity to speak and act for themselves.

At a young age, Shofiqure has taken the initiative to organize his peers, build a youth-led structure, collaborate with other community organizations and create practical opportunities for Rohingya youth leadership. His work demonstrates that even within a displaced and resource-constrained community, young people can organize themselves and contribute constructively to their community’s present and future. For these reasons, Shofiqure Rahman’s civic contribution merits consideration for the 2026 International Luminary Award in Civic Works. His strongest distinction is not the number of accomplishments attached to his name, but his effort to create a platform through which other Rohingya young people can learn, participate, organize and lead.

Evidence of Works: