Supporting the Asian Development Bank's Mission
Environmental degradation. Climate resilience. Inclusion. Crafting solutions for green growth that bridge challenges like these is the focus of HKS Executive Education alumna Sonia Chand Sandhu, a sustainable infrastructure specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines.
In her role as Senior Advisor to the Vice President, Sandhu's work supports the ADB's mission of helping developing member countries in Asia and the Pacific reduce poverty and improve citizens' quality of life. She attended the Leading Economic Growth program last year to augment her 25 years of development experience and core training in environment engineering, urban planning, and architecture.
"HKS taught me the value of simplicity, quality of thought, and innovation that is of paramount importance to enhance the capabilities of institutions, especially in the dynamically changing and growing countries of Asia and the Pacific," Sandhu says. "My time at HKS was most invigorating and has given me fresh insights into my work."
Member countries of the ADB present a broad spectrum of development challenges, according to Sandhu. Her responsibilities span a similarly wide range of areas, such as policy and strategy, quality assurance, and team management.
Sandhu says interacting with her HKS peer group—which comprised about 45 public- and private-sector senior executives and practitioners from around the world—has added immense value to her work at the ADB. So, too, has the program's emphasis on building a decision-making framework for balanced economic growth.
"I credit HKS for improving my understanding of strategy and policy formulation for shared economic growth within complex institutions and governance systems," she says. "Moving forward, this will enable me to contribute to country diagnostics, policy dialogues, leadership toward institutional solutions, and prioritization for investment programming."