Abdallah Diwan

Abdallah Diwan was born in Alexandria, Egypt. Abdallah holds an MBA from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Egypt, and earned his Bachelor of Law (L.L.B.) from Alexandria University (English Department), Egypt. Abdallah is currently acting as the Youth Development Specialist for Reach Out to Asia (ROTA) part of Qatar Foundation. After leading a number of successful youth programs and campaigns in Alexandria, Egypt and the MENA region, Abdallah co-founded The Sustainable Development Association (SDA) in Alexandria in 2003, one of the first youth led NGOs in Egypt, whose board is considered to be the youngest NGO’s board in Egypt; the SDA is about giving youth a chance. Abdallah was the first Egyptian to represent Egyptian youth on an official delegation to a UN summit (UN’s World Summit on the Information Society) in both its phases 2003 (Geneva) and 2005 (Tunis), after leading a successful national youth campaign on the information society. Abdallah also had a leading role at the UN’s ITU Africa Telecom 2004 Youth Forum, The first four UN Internet Governance Forums held in Greece, Brazil, India and Egypt, and was also involved in a large number of projects creating a unique opportunity for activities and events, projects and communities to realize the potential of youth especially in the MENA region and towards achieving the MDGs. Also worked for different UN agencies since 2004, including UNDP and the Internet Governance Forum Secretariat both in Egypt and Switzerland, helped Abdallah develop a wealth of experience in youth leadership, advocacy, volunteerism, informal continuous education, the use of ICTs for Development and getting the youth heard at the local, national and international levels (including the UN system).