Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has two wives and is the father of several children.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was born on November 29, 1955, in Jalalaqsi, Trust Territory of Somaliland, to a middle-class family belonging to the Abgaal Hawiye clan. He received his primary and secondary education from local schools in his hometown.

In 1978, he went to Somalia's capital Mogadishu where he attended the local Somali National University and obtained an undergraduate diploma in technology from the institution in 1981.

In 1986, he traveled to India and got enrolled at the Bhopal University from where he earned a master's degree in technical education in 1988.

He is also a graduate of the ‘Summer Peacebuilding Institute’ (SPI) of the Eastern Mennonite University based in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He completed three of the SPI's intensive courses which comprised of mediation, trauma healing, and designing learner-centered trainings in 2001.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud started his career as an instructor and trainer at the Lafole Technical Secondary School. In 1984, he joined the Somali National University-affiliated Technical Teachers' Training College and two years later, became the head of the department.

In the early 1990s, when the civil war broke out, Mohamud operated as a consultant with various NGOs, UN bureaus, and peace and development projects.

Between 1993 and 1995, he worked as an education officer for UNICEF in the central and southern Somalia.

In 1999, he co-founded the Somali Institute of Management and Administration (SIMAD) which subsequently developed into the SIMAD University, with Mohamud serving as the dean until 2010.

In 2011, he entered Somali politics when he founded the independent Peace and Development Party (PDP). PDP members unanimously elected him as the party's chairman in April 2011, with a mandate to serve as its leader for the next three years.

In 2013, he resumed national reconciliation talks between the central government in Mogadishu and the regional authorities in Hargeisa. The following year, he announced a number of new development projects aimed at Somalia's youth.

In January 2015, he signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on behalf of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Following the signing of the pact, the Federal Government is now slated to adopt child friendly systems and policies, and implement steps geared toward child development, survival and protection.