Mr Jaco Cilliers is a Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Uzbekistan, where he was responsible for management and coordination of all operational and programmatic activities of UNDP. He also worked with UNDP Cyprus as head of office. Before joining the UN, he worked as Deputy Regional Director for Southern and Central Africa for an international NGO and in management positions for development organizations in the Balkans. He has significant experience working in development and conflict areas.

Born in 1964, Mr Banerjee obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Sciences (1985) from the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry (India), and a Master of Arts degree in French (1988) from the Jawaharial Nehru University, New Delhi (India). In 1990, he obtained a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies and, in 1994, Ph.Ds in Communication and in Didactics from the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (France). From 1995 to 1996, Mr Banerjee pursued a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Communication and Media at the Université du Québec, Montreal (Canada).

Mr Banerjee was Adjunct Faculty at the University of Ottawa (Canada) from 1996 to 1997. In 1998, he became Associate Professor at the School of Communication and Information, first at the University Science Malaysia and, from 2001 to 2009, at the Nanyang Technological University.

Between 2004 and 2009, Mr Banerjee also served as Secretary-General of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Singapore, where he launched a large number of research and publication projects, media conferences, seminars and training workshops.

In July 2009, Mr Banerjee was appointed Chief of Information and Communication Technology in the Education, Science and Culture Section of the Communication and Information Sector. In this capacity, he has undertaken numerous projects and initiatives, as well as established partnerships with a number of public and private entities.
Mr Banerjee is a member of the International Communication Association (ICA), the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). He has authored several books and numerous articles in his field of competence.

Mr Indrajit Banerjee (India)has been appointed as Director (D-1) of the Information Society Division,Communication and Information Sector on 10 August 2010

H. E. Prof. Ali Al Tarrah is the Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of the State of Kuwait to UNESCO. Prof Al Tarrah has handled many challenges and provided valuable services, nationally and internationally, in his professional carrier. He has been a Cultural Counselor/Head of the Cultural Office in the Embassy of Kuwait in Washington D.C. The United Nations Development Office in Kuwait used Professor Al Tarrah’s services as “domestic expert” in development planning.