In this episode, United Nations Senior Policy Advisor Manav Sachdeva talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about his insights from his decorated career in international policy and how he works to help countries navigate from conflict to stability.

About Manav Sachdeva:

Manav Sachdeva is a senior policy advisor and emergency expert personnel deployed at short notice for the United Nations Development Programme. He has worked for the UN and UNDP in several capacities since 2007 including as programme specialist for Asia Pacific and Arab States, Development consultant, senior advisor to Afghanistan UNWOMEN, and as a proposal writing consultant for UNDP Somalia. Manav’s cross-border cooperation and peace/stabilization missions have included, Afghanistan, India, Lebanon, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Liberia, and Kosovo. He holds a graduate degree in Economic Development and State/Society structural relations from Columbia University and academic research experience with Harvard University.

Podcast Highlights:

“The more you get knowledge of places on the ground, [and] the more you [hear] the stories about them, [you learn that they don't] have control over their own narrative... they have a whole set of issues that have not been listened to."

- Manav Sachedva on the topic of the importance of giving people the space to tell their own stories so they can advocate for what their communities need, especially in the Global South.

“There are layers of suffering and we need to... listen. So the main thing I find in transition [from conflict to stability] is the mistakes we make when we don't listen…there is a cost to not listen in this line of work”

- Manav Sachedva on the topic of the importance of intentionality and learning from the locals when helping areas transition from times of conflict to stability.

“We did a project and we dug a well where we didn't even check if the ground were levels were good enough - people do silly things out of hubris. So, check yourself a little bit because if you do it with humility you will have such a happy life."

- Manav Sachedva on a project he worked on in Afghanistan and the value of maintaining humility when trying to help others.

Guest:

Manav Sachdeva (United Nations Senior Policy Advisor)

Interviewers:

Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Vice Chief Ambassador)

Dinara Godage (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)

Music by: C Codaine

⁠https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Minimal_1625⁠⁠https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Phase⁠

Commercial Links:⁠

https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠

This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠

Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠.