Indian School of Public Policy organises webinar on demand for policy professionals

Public Policy is emerging as a dominant career choice for future decision makers, not only because of the career progression this domain has to offer, but also because of the growing demand for public policy professionals across various sectors: Non-profits, government, multilateral agencies, corporates, and others.

In light of the above, the ISPP organized a webinar on: Public Policy – Key Steps and Scope, conducted by Ms. Vineeta Hariharan, on the 13^th of April, 2019. The webinar that was attended by about 50 plus participants focussed on the demand for policy professionals, especially in the private sector, and the reasons behind the same.  

Ms. Hariharan has more than 20 years of experience in framing, leading public programmes and projects in the domains of: sustainable urban and rural development, development banking and finance, affordable housing, transit-oriented development, infrastructure, cluster development, micro-enterprises, retail strategies and tourism development.

The webinar covered the following: a typical career path of a public policy expert in India and prospects for a qualified public policy professional, nationally and internationally, with examples from Ms. Hariharan’s own career trajectory, inclusive of challenges, and motivating factors that goaded her to pursue a career in policy. ''I always wanted to go beyond every day truths and see the macro picture, which is what made me go a step ahead at every stage in my academic career. With a basic academic qualification in civil engineering, graduating in an era where the entry barriers to such institutes were high, I consciously chose to go beyond laying bricks on mortar, to a wider canvas which made me purse my Master’s in urban planning and housing policy. After a decade of working in India’s leading public and private sectors, in the domain of advisory services and development funding, I, once again, felt the urge to seek truths beyond my immediate context; this led me to pursue a mid-career programme in public administration and policy. I thought of looking beyond our country, at issues plaguing other countries, similar to those of mine, and study the typical policy solutions for these, which is when I decided to pursue a Master’s in this field,'' said Ms. Hariharan.

The webinar focused further on how a qualification in public policy can help navigate complex real time public policy challenges, and encapsulated the typical career opportunities with multilateral and bilateral agencies, public and private sectors, think tanks and research institutes, both at the national and international level.

Concluding the webinar, Ms. Hariharan summed the essence poignantly: “The motivation has to be beyond the immediate canvas, to make a difference and create change for improvement of lives and humanity at large. With this wider philosophy, policy professionals could truly impact change.”

About The Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP)

The Indian School of Public Policy (https://www.ispp.org.in/) was formally launched on October 23rd, 2018 at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi by dignitaries including Shri N.K. Singh, Shri Rajiv Mehrishi and Shri Gurcharan Das. Notable experts from the Tata Institute of Social Science, Twitter Inc India, Brookings Institution, Uber India and GMR established the urgent need for a new generation of policy professionals through a panel discussion. The School will commence (in August, 2019) a year-long, equivalent to Master’s Certificate Programme in Policy, Design & Management, intended to prepare students for challenging careers in policy action across government, industry and civil society.

 

For more information, please contact: sarah@ispp.org.in