We have released a new episode in our podcast series A Decade of Building State Capability. In this episode, BSC Director Salimah Samji interviews Sampath Kumar, Health Secretary and Development Commissioner of the government of Meghalaya. Sampath attended Harvard Kennedy School in 2013 where he had his first exposure to Building State Capability.
In this episode, Sampath reflects on his experience as an authorizer using the PDIA and Adaptive Leadership approaches at scale in Meghalaya, India and discusses the importance of cultivating political supportability.
Sampath Kumar is presently the Health Secretary and the Development Commissioner of the government of Meghalaya in northeast India. Over a career addressing rural poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, natural resource management, early childhood education, and healthcare, he has grown deeply familiar with both the challenges of extending public services to the poor and vulnerable, and the immense potential of last mile development. Mr. Kumar has also conceptualized the innovative State Capability Enhancement Project (SCEP) as a means of strengthening state capacity, while progressively tackling complex development challenges. The SCEP framework has now been institutionalized as the Government Innovation Lab (GIL) with the Government of Meghalaya. He is Edward S. Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.
Sampath Kumar on a health field visit