John Bowers (November 27, 1912 – October 11, 2004) was a British diplomat and head of fundamental education at UNESCO for 20 years from 1947.

[3] After postgraduate courses in Arabic, Islamic Culture, Anthropology and Law, he joined the Sudan Political Service in 1935.

He was private secretary to Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East, who was murdered by the Stern Gang in 1944.

Following the war he joined UNESCO, at the request of Sir Julian Huxley, where he worked in adult education, agriculture and literacy in Africa, India, South-East Asia and Central America.

He inducted qualified educationists including Mushtaq Ahmed Azmi, a pioneer in the field of adult education in India, to UNICEF.