Ahmad Alhendawi

Ahmad Alhendawi is the 10th Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), becoming the youngest to helm one of the world’s leading educational youth movements. Prior to his appointment in WOSM, Mr. Alhendawi served as the first-ever United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth and the youngest senior official in the history of the UN.

Since the beginning of his career history, Mr. Alhendawi has been a practitioner and strong advocate of youth development and empowerment. Once a Scout himself, he believes that Scouting holds a major solution for youth development in the 21st century.

Before his career at the UN, he served as Youth Policy Advisor for the League of Arab States, a Team Leader for the National Youth Policy Project in Iraq, Youth Programme Associate at the Iraq office of the UN Population Fund, Emergency Programme Officer at Save the Children and as a Regional Consultant supporting the Danish Youth Council’s projects in the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. Alhendawi was named for two consecutive years as one of the 100 most influential Arabs under 40 and in the Diplomatic Courier’s list of the 99 most influential policy professionals under 33. In 2008, he was selected by the International Youth Foundation as a recipient of the 2008 YouthActionNet Fellowship.

Ahmad Alhendawi holds a Master’s degree in Advanced European and International Relations from the Institut Européen (Nice, France) and a Bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from the Al-Balqa Applied University in Jordan.

A Jordanian by birth, he has studied and worked in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, France, Germany and the United States.