Gambhir has been an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore) since 2019 after having had an Adjunct Professor appointment there during 2016-2018. For the Spring term of 2021, he is also a Visiting Professor at the Kathmandu University School of Management, Nepal.
Gambhir has recently retired from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila after having worked there for more than 15 years. His key roles there included: Chief of the Knowledge Advisory Services Center, and prior to that Chief of the Governance Thematic Group. He also designed various development projects and programs in Asia, contributing directly to a portfolio of more than two billion dollars in programming in the broad areas of governance and public sector management in countries of the region. He also led the design of about 15 Technical Assistance projects, with a combined resource allocation of more than ten million USD.
Before joining ADB in 2005, he was a Senior Advisor in the New Zealand state sector. He has almost 30 years of experience in governance and public sector management as well as knowledge management in advisory, policy planning, and program/project development and management realms across 4 continents.
Gambhir is the author of several books, including ‘…Those that fix the lights’ – The Practice of Public Sector Management in Developing Asia (Routledge, 2019). He has a Ph.D. in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (USA), as well as Advanced Certificates in Applied Public Policy, Urban and Regional Development, and Asian Studies, also from Pitt.
Gambhir is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Avinash leads a parallel career as an educator and an engineer. As an Education Director of non-profit United World Schools, he leads education development across 45 community-based schools in rural Nepal. The organization is providing quality education to around 7000 children. Avinash is also a member of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum to engage in community projects voluntarily. He is also co-founder and president of Digo Bikas Institute, a research and advocacy-based organization committed to promote ecological sustainability and social equity at the policy and community level.
Prior to that, he supervised the implementation of a hundred plus projects on renewable energy systems in rural communities of Nepal. In 2014, he was awarded as a winner of Ncell App Camp and Rec@nnect Challenge for his tech-based initiatives. In 2015, he was recognized as International Visitor Leadership Program Exchange Fellow by the US State Department.
Avinash has a Master’s in Public Policy degree from Kathmandu University. Having more than eight years of experience working in the community, Avinash does not shy away from volunteering his free time for any inspirational opportunity that comes his way.
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