KATHMANDU, JULY 30 When Sanjay Pradhan is asked where he comes from, his answer refuses to fit into conventional geography. 'I am from everywhere. I don't belong to any one place,' he says with quiet conviction. 'I refuse to be limited to a specific geography, nationality, religion, or culture. I encompass all of it.' It is an expansive worldview honed over decades at the pinnacle of international governance. Pradhan has spent his life grappling with some of humanity's most intractable challenges, including systemic poverty, corruption, and the erosion of democratic trust. He previously served as vice president of the World Bank Institute, chief executive officer of the 77-country Open Government Partnership (OGP), and is now president of the World Forum for Ethics and Business (WFEB). Yet, his personal journey began in far more humble surroundings. Pradhan grew up in Patna, Bihar, with an honest civil servant father. 'When a public officer is honest, you are poor in government,' he says with a nostalgic smile. 'We had no real money- only two changes of clothes to wear to school.' Overseas study was beyond his wildest dreams until his father received a foreign assignment to Manila and brought the young Pradhan along. Attending an international school in the Philippines exposed him to the American liberal arts system, which contrasted sharply with the rote learning he had previously experienced. 'Suddenly, I was studying English literature and Albert Camus, and my teacher would ask me, 'What do you think?'' he recalls. 'I had never been asked what I thought before.' Despite having received one of only two global direct-admission seats to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 1978, his school guidance counsellor persuaded him to apply to American universities. Though his second choice, Lehigh University, turned him down, every Ivy League institution he applied to offered him full scholarships. Reluctantly, the 16-year-old Patna boy packed his bags for Harvard, where he would spend the next eight years pursuing an economics degree, an MBA, and a PhD. THE TURNING POINT IN A MUD HUT During his junior year at Harvard, Pradhan's life was forever changed by a single profound encounter. After receiving a university grant to research rural poverty, land rights, and caloric intake in Bihar, he returned to India to survey 6,000 households in 12 villages. Pradhan, conscious of his research ethics, refused to pack a lunch while interviewing impoverished villagers about their daily food intake. In one village torn apart by caste conflict, the local headman suspected the young researcher of being a government informant and forbade anyone from approaching him or offering him shelter. Pradhan collapsed beneath a tree in the middle of the afternoon, exhausted and dehydrated from the scorching heat of summer. 'Right in front of me, the door to the smallest hut opened,' Pradhan says, his voice softening. 'A very skinny man from the lowest caste emerged and invited me inside.' Pradhan, hesitant to offend his host, accepted the modest meal offered to him while the entire family watched. Surveys resumed the following day, after the village headman discovered Pradhan was a student. Pradhan returned to interview the family who had taken him in and asked the standard survey question about their daily food intake. He realised then that the family had given him the entire three-day supply of food. 'When you have nothing and give your last bite, it is overwhelmingly powerful,' Pradhan explains, visibly moved. 'Here was a man with nothing who gave everything to a stranger. I then decided to give up business management and devote my life to putting food in people's mouths. FIGHTING LEAKAGE AND FINDING INNER CALM Pradhan joined the World Bank to address systemic poverty and was assigned as a country economist to post-civil war Uganda. After orchestrating a $100 million grant for the country, he toured local clinics and schools, hoping to see results. Instead, he discovered empty shelves and missing textbooks. Later research revealed an astounding 80 per cent leakage of public funds due to corruption and inefficiency. In response, Pradhan pioneered public spending tracking systems. Local citizens held officials accountable by publishing school allocations on public noticeboards and broadcasting them on community radio, resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in fund leakage. His pioneering work led to his appointment as the World Bank's first director for governance, and later vice president of the World Bank Institute. Despite his stellar professional achievements, he has a private battle with severe anxiety, which stems from a family history of mental illnesses. 'Before giving major public talks, I would take eight to nine Valium tablets and consume excessive alcohol just to calm myself, often passing out afterwards,' Pradhan candidly shares. Recognising that external success could not compensate for internal turmoil, he considered leaving international public service altogether. A chance decision to attend an Art of Living course in Washington, DC introduced him to Sudarshan Kriya breathwork and meditation. The practice proved transformative, removing his anxiety and replacing his reliance on medication with deep, long-lasting inner peace. Recognising the importance of self-awareness in effective governance, Pradhan incorporated inner leadership, mindfulness, and breathwork into executive training programmes for global policymakers at the World Bank. REIMAGINING DEMOCRACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN NEPAL Pradhan's relationship with Nepal dates back to his time as the World Bank's South Asia manager, when he frequently visited Kathmandu to oversee development portfolios. Today, as global ambassador for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and president of the World Forum for Ethics and Business, his primary focus is on assisting Nepal in navigating its current sociopolitical transformation in the aftermath of recent youth-led uprisings against systemic corruption. According to Pradhan, Nepal is at a historic juncture in which democratic governance must go beyond the periodic casting of ballots. He emphasises that the widespread public dissatisfaction that fuelled recent protests stems from a lack of transparency between elections, making citizen empowerment the ultimate antidote to institutional decline. According to Pradhan, Nepal already meets all four formal eligibility criteria to join the 77-nation Open Government Partnership, and he has been actively discussing formal membership with senior Nepalese officials during his current visit. He argues that joining the OGP would provide Nepal with an international platform to demonstrate transparent governance while also learning directly from global best practices. Drawing on successful international models, Pradhan proposes a three-step plan for Nepal to combat public sector corruption. First, Nepal should transition from traditional e-procurement to open data standards, similar to Ukraine's well-known ProZorro platform, by publishing all government contracts online in searchable formats, allowing the public to track costs, bidding processes, and corporate recipients. Second, Nepal's tech-savvy youth should be empowered via mobile applications - modelled after Nigeria's Citizen Feeds app - allowing citizens to photograph and geolocate publicly funded roads, schools, and health posts to report incomplete or non-existent infrastructure directly to central oversight bodies. Third, government officials must develop binding response protocols to address citizen feedback, thereby rebuilding public trust. Pradhan also discusses how technology can help people navigate Nepal's difficult mountain terrain. He emphasises the importance of artificial intelligence for rural development, citing local technological innovations like Wise Yak as examples. Mobile AI platforms can help women in remote Himalayan communities gain access to banking, microcredit, and early health diagnostics like cervical cancer screening without having to travel long distances. 'AI can be a game-changer for mountain communities, enabling rural women to access healthcare diagnostics and microcredit,' Pradhan asserts. 'At the same time, we must establish safeguards against digital bias, fake news, and privacy breaches.' As part of his ongoing leadership at the World Forum for Ethics and Business, Pradhan is advocating for Nepal to host a national forum aimed at developing a youth-centred AI strategy. Such an initiative would prioritise AI literacy, digital ethics, and youth entrepreneurship, transforming Nepal's youthful energy into a force for long-term economic development and good governance.