Hafez AbuAdwan is from the Gaza Strip, Palestine. In a video interview, he describes his extraordinary journey from life inside Gaza to his journey west, Mr Abuadwan concludes: “a refugee has the power of achieving sustainable development. A refugee can actually make a change in their own society, economically, socially and politically. The world needs refugees to be empowered, so we can actually achieve peace and justice.”

After completing his Master’s at CIE, he entered a Master’s program in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, majoring in Power, Conflict, and Development and minoring in Global Security. His Master’s thesis analyzes the life-cycle of militias in Libya’s ongoing conflict and is titled “The Mutation Syndrome: An Analytical History of Libya’s Militias”.

Mr. AbuAdwan has 9 years of experience working with both non-profit and for-profit NGOs and INGOs in Palestine, Switzerland and the USA.  He has worked with the MENA region of Interpeace in Geneva; with Médecins Sans Frontières doing fund raising and public awareness; and with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, doing research on counter terrorism legislation.

Hafez AbuAdwan is currently a fellow with the Global Fellowship Initiative at the Geneva Center for Security Policy and a Project Assistant with Small Arms Survey. [1-21]

Email: h.abuadwan@gcsp.ch habuadwan@gmail.com