On December 8, 2015 the Queen’s Young Leaders programme officially announced Bangladesh representative in the Commonwealth nations, Rakibul Hasan, as the “Queen's Young Leader” under the category of Highly Commended Runner-Up.
Through the programme, Hasan, will have exclusive access to the mentors and the bespoke online leadership course developed by the University of Cambridge titled Leading Change.
This is the beginning of a year-long journey where the programme hopes to provide him with the skills, networks and knowledge that he will need to continue to transform his own life and the lives of people around him, towards a peaceful society.
The programme opts to demonstrate the astounding works of these young leaders and simultaneously celebrate everyone's success in ways that the Queen’s Young Leaders community can access and exchange their ideas with each other.
In October 2014, Hasan completed his graduation from the department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka. In mid 2015, he received a prestigious three-year long Women Deliver fellowship as one of 200 global young leaders in Denmark. Hassan started his profession as a Research Analyst (RA) at Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS). As one of 46 emerging professionals in South Asia, US Department of State nominated him for a professional peace building program titled Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT) in Nepal.
SIT Graduate Institute, USA, trained the cohort of emerging professionals/young leaders of South Asia in December 2014. After representing Bangladesh in a continental Peace Summit organised by UN-ECOSOC INGO “Universal Peace Federation” in Thailand, he was invited to a peacekeeping training on civilian protection, conducted by Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) of United Nations and Bangladesh Army. He also happens to take part in the policy meetings of United Nations Youth Advisory Panel (UNYAP), Bangladesh. Hassan is now an ambassador of the programme and the work he does will be associated with Her Majesty The Queen and Bangladesh.
Through a journalism project, he trained hundreds of local and South Asian youths in citizen journalism, editing and publishing their commentaries and features on causes they suffer in their communities. The idea of citizen journalism, he initiated, aims at training the tender aged school-going students so they can feel the rights more subconsciously later when they grow up as responsible citizens of the society. He also volunteers as head of Media Affairs in the region's largest youth base South Asian Youth Society (SAYS), to perform his community works.
As a peace researcher and a columnist, Hasan contributes political analyses to many newspapers in home and abroad. At present, he writes freelance Op-Eds and columns in more than 20 regional newspapers, especially in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Besides, he appears in scores of international conferences and publishes research papers in many international journals. He generally writes on security issues, including radical Islamism and counterterrorism, public policy, interfaith dialogues and peace building, conflict transformation, youth activism and gender minorities etc.
Hasan believes in ensuring freedom of expressions, especially in the youth community. He advocates for young participants in new media and citizen journalism around the country and helps in developing the social change process, especially by encouraging public opinions among youths. His experiences of growing-up in a crime zone and studying violence enable him to successfully initiate many social and community campaigns/ projects raising awareness against types and degrees of violence in the societies.
If you have any enquiries and want to ask a question feel free to send them an email to [email protected], Twitter: @TheRakibulHasan, email: [email protected], facebook/Rakibul.Hasan.Bangladeshi, Website: https://www.queensyoungleaders.com
