What happens when decades of development progress are suddenly put at risk?

In the second episode of The Pivot, Kanni Wignaraja, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic as a defining moment for development, a shock that forced countries, institutions, and communities to rapidly rethink how they delivered services, protected vulnerable populations, and sustained progress.

Drawing on experiences from across Asia and the Pacific, she describes how the pandemic exposed deep vulnerabilities in societies while accelerating innovation at an unprecedented scale. From digital public services and remote learning to vaccine delivery platforms such as CoWIN in India and SMILE in Indonesia, COVID-19 became a powerful test of how quickly systems could adapt under pressure.

The conversation explores the first global regression in human development in three decades, the difficult choices governments faced to protect lives and livelihoods, and the lasting lessons the pandemic offers for resilience, trust, and preparedness in an increasingly uncertain world.

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