peter.ballantyne@iaald.org

Peter Ballantyne is the current President of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD). His is also Director of Euforic – an information-sharing cooperative working to enhance access to information and knowledge on Europe’s international development. He began his career working in agricultural information - first at the World Bank, then at a Faculty of Agriculture in Thailand, then in the CGIAR at the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR). His current interests in agricultural information are reflected in his involvement in the FAO-led ‘e-agriculture’ task force and his work for the GFAR and CGIAR. He spent the past 12 years working in the international development sector, with ECDPM, IICD, and INASP. He is particularly interested in collaboration among organizations and how information and knowledge can be mobilized to address development challenges. He has participated in research projects, written articles and reports, established companies, charities and an Internet cooperative, and acted as editor, publisher, evaluator, webmaster, workshop and e-conference facilitator as well as information specialist and librarian. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of ‘Information Development’ and the ‘Knowledge Management for Development Journal.’

vikas.nath@gmail.com

Mr. Nath is an Inlaks Scholar (2000-1), London School of Economics. He holds 2 Masters Degree, one in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics (UK) and the other in Natural Resources Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management (India). Mr. Nath is the Founder of two Information Technology for Development initiatives: http://www.DigitalGovernance.org and http://www.KnowNet.org that are aimed at catalysing good governance in developing countries through strategic use of knowledge and technology, and creating a peer group of developing countries practitioners to foster South-South learning’s. In addition, he founded the DevNetJobs.org Portal which is an electronic gateway for jobs and consulting opportunities in the international development sector. Mr. Nath has worked in over 30 countries, including in USA, Europe, Eastern Europe and CIS, Middle East, and Central and South Asia on a range of projects on application of information technology in agriculture, small and medium enterprises, public sector reforms, good governance and rural development. At present, he works as Knowledge Management Specialist with South Centre (an inter-governmental organization) in Geneva. Between July 2001 - March 2003, Mr. Nath worked as Policy Analyst with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York. During this time he was involved in research on provision and financing of public goods including Internet and the Global Communications Network. Prior to that he worked with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, as a technical adviser on Agenda 21 and Environment and Sustainable development issues.