Hiro Saito, currently the Director of the UN Information Centre in Dakar, boasts over 20 years of experience across global media organizations. Hiro is an expert in strategic communications, journalism, campaign management, and digital media marketing. He has also served as a crisis communications advisor, managing high-pressure situations in countries like Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Niger. His distinguished roles include the Regional Communications Officer for Africa at the UN Department of Global Communications, providing communications support to over 50 UN Country Teams in the region. Previously, he worked for UNICEF and in UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Darfur (UNAMID). During these missions, he held management roles, supervising numerous professional staff and the associated budgets.
Prior to working within the UN system, Hiro worked in the communications field as a video journalist, media coordinator, and producer for several media outlets and companies such as Fox Television Stations, Inc. WFXT-25 Boston, TV-Tokyo Network, Travelzoo, and an NBC-affiliate TV station. Hiro holds a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University, a bachelor’s degree in literature from Waseda University, and a Certificat de langue française Niveau Supérieur from the Cours de civilisation française de la Sorbonne. He is fluent in English, French, and Japanese.
