Globetrotting Alum Change Policy, Education

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ghana, Indonesia, India, Italy, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States.

All of those countries have been home to Mohottige Upali Sedere (PhD ’76) in his 30-year career since he studied at The University of Iowa.

Sedere, originally from a small rural village in Sri Lanka, has used his education in work with several prestigious international agencies and nonprofit organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, CARE International, and UNICEF. He has served in varied capacities, but his main task has been to advise and assist governments on how they can frame policies and implement programs to achieve better outcomes in their nations’ educational efforts.

“Basically, I act as a technical adviser and a facilitator of the process,” he said.

Professor Emeritus Leonard Feldt, Sedere’s academic advisor, said he’s been impressed with the path Sedere’s taken after school. “Though I expected Dr. Sedere would have an outstanding career, I am awestruck by the variety and complexity of projects he has undertaken,” Feldt said. “His vita clearly reflects his willingness to accept challenges and succeed.”

Sedere most recently served as senior policy advisor to the Ministry of Education in Malawi, South Africa. He said he meets unique challenges in his career moving from country to country and culture to culture.

“One obvious challenge wherever you are is the native language of the country,” Sedere said. “Every country has so many ethnic groups and they all have different native languages.”

In Indonesia, a chain of over 3,000 islands covering a quarter of the equator, language changes from island to island. In Malawi, he encountered 11 different languages. “As a development worker, sometimes I communicate through three different interpreters as there is no one who can communicate in all languages,” he said.

Sedere said there are some universal truths he encounters in his travels. First, he said no matter what developing nation he’s living in, he’s found he’s always provided with the best.

“There are diplomatic warehouses providing you all the goods that you’ll need,” he said.

The second truth is “unbelievable socioeconomic disparity.”

But Sedere said he takes comfort in the fact that his work helps children escape poverty through education.

“Education is the most powerful tool that can bring sustainable change in one’s life,” he said. “We advocate the governments to provide easy access to schooling, provide free textbooks and learning materials to the children of the poor.”

Feldt said another thing that’s impressed him about Sedere is that he’s continued to publish scholarly work, including several books, while working all over the globe.

“One might have expected that the work in developing countries that Dr. Sedere has undertaken would have taken all of his time and energy,” Feldt said. “I find his production of scholarly work remarkable, especially given the circumstances under which it was produced.”

Even though Sedere is on his twelfth passport, there are still places he’d like to see.

“I have not yet been to South America and that’s where I’m going next,” he said, noting that he plans to work as a project director of a USAID project in Guyana.

But no matter where he’s living, Sedere said he maintains a close attachment with Sri Lanka, a country he describes as blessed with coconut and tropical fruit trees, golden sand beaches, and mountains covered with dark green tea gardens.

“ Sri Lanka is a lovely island. You realize this only when you have a wider exposure to the rest of the world,” he said. “The first thing I still do each day is read the Sri Lankan newspaper online.” –by Heather McElvain