Senior Adviser
Sustainable Development Goals
Manoj Basnyat is a Senior Adviser and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Team Coordinator in the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly 71st Session. He focuses on LDCs and LLDCs outreach as well as SDG 1 on ending poverty, SDG 2 on zero hunger and SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation.
Previously, Manoj was the Special Adviser in the Bureau of Management of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In that role, he assisted in the preparation of the Performance Management and Development arrangements for UNDP. He supported the Bureau with strategies to accelerate the delivery of UNDP’s technical assistance and resources and in improving the management of development projects and trust funds. He also assisted in preparing the service delivery model of the Bureau.
Manoj has more than 20 years of development leadership and management experience. In 2004, he served as UNDP’s Resident Representative, a.i. for an extended period, in Ukraine. He was the Country Director of UNDP in Afghanistan (2008-2012) and Bangladesh (2006-2008) responsible for planning, delivering and managing development assistance that was successfully built around successful partnerships with multiple stakeholders in the international and national community. Manoj was the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Ukraine (2001-2005) and assisted in the delivery of development assistance as its Country Programme Director.
Prior to that, Manoj served as the Policy Specialist and Deputy Regional Manager for the Sub-regional Resource Facility in UNDP’s Regional Center in Bratislava, Slovakia
(1999 – 2001) for the Europe and CIS region and UNDP’s Regional Center in Colombo (2005 – 2006) for the Asia Pacific region.
Manoj was the Assistant Resident Representative and Sustainable Development Adviser, as a National Professional Officer, with UNDP in Nepal (1994-1999) with responsibility for governance, infrastructure and natural resources management.
Earlier in his career, Manoj served as a development specialist in World Bank-managed urban development projects and the USAID-funded Integrated Rural Development Project in Rapti, Nepal.
Manoj speaks English, Russian and Nepali.