Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
The Youth-Led Initiative (YLI), in collaboration with Rohingyatographer and with support from the United Rohang Council and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Office, has concluded an extensive four-day journalism workshop titled “Explore Today To Tell Tomorrow” at Camp 16 in Cox’s Bazar during two consecutive weekends, 7–8 and 14–15 November 2025. The workshop brought together 70 Rohingya youth, including aspiring journalists, photographers, activists, and writers from various camps.
This workshop is considered one of the most organized and impactful journalism trainings held within refugee camps, aiming to develop a new generation of storytellers capable of documenting their community’s realities with professionalism, ethics, and purpose.
The training was led by three prominent Rohingya media professionals: Ro Yassin Abdumonan, Shahat Zia Hero winner of the 2023 Nansen Refugee Award and Ahtaram Shin. Participants received hands-on training in news writing, human-interest storytelling, ethical journalism, mobile and professional photography, field documentation techniques, conducting interviews, fact-checking, and building community-centered narratives.
On the final day, Bangladeshi climate journalist Tanbirul Miraj Ripon delivered a special lecture on climate change in Bangladesh and Cox’s Bazar, its impacts on both host and refugee communities, the role of solutions journalism, connecting Rohingya stories to global climate conversations, and the importance of accuracy and preserving community dignity in humanitarian reporting.
Organizers confirmed that the workshop strengthened the youth’s documentation and communication skills, promoted fact-based and ethical journalism, provided space for refugee storytellers to engage with global media standards, and enhanced peaceful dialogue and awareness within the community. All participants received certificates of completion and YLI-branded T-shirts, with ongoing opportunities for media collaboration in the future.
Maung Solaiman Shah, founder and coordinator of YLI, stated that the program is part of efforts to prepare a generation of Rohingya voices capable of representing their community with courage, integrity, and responsibility, emphasizing that the youth are now better equipped to tell the stories the world needs to hear.
YLI plans to expand its youth media programs, focusing on peace journalism, child rights reporting, environmental and climate storytelling, women-led storytelling initiatives, and promoting digital safety and ethical media use, as part of building a sustainable network of young journalists who “explore today to tell tomorrow.”
Bangladesh hosts over one million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps, which the United Nations considers the largest refugee settlement in the world. Refugees have lived under difficult humanitarian conditions since fleeing Myanmar in 2017 due to the military’s “genocide” campaign against them. New waves of displacement to Bangladesh have occurred since fighting broke out in Rakhine State in November 2023 between the Myanmar military and Buddhist Arakan militias (Arakan Army).
