Mandeep Samra
Director
Mandeep is a Director in our Global Impact team. She specialises in research, strategy and policy delivery, and positioning people at the heart of transformation.
Mandeep brings varied and extensive leadership experience from the UK civil service, having held senior roles across the Cabinet Office, the Department for International Development (now FCDO), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), and the Ministry of Justice. Her expertise lies in harnessing technology and innovation for positive social impact, and fostering new ways of working across sectors and disciplines.
At Public Digital, Mandeep works with global development institutions, such as multilateral development banks, major philanthropic foundations and UN agencies to advise on their digital strategy, programming and investment portfolios, and support them to achieve inclusive, scalable and sustainable social impact.
Prior to joining Public Digital, Mandeep led the early design of the Local Government Outcomes Framework as Deputy Director for Local Government Strategy at MHCLG - marking a shift from input/output metrics to tracking performance against priority outcomes that matter most to people, places, and government missions.
At DFID, she led the design and inception of the Global EdTech Hub, cultivating partnerships with the World Bank, Gates Foundation, and country governments to harness digital transformation to tackle the global learning crisis. She also led on digital identity, collaborating with multilateral partners to deliver the World Bank’s ID4D initiative.
During the pandemic, Mandeep led strategic planning in the Cabinet Office/ No.10 COVID Taskforce, using digital and data approaches to support early risk identification, whole-system join-up, and better decision-making.
Mandeep began her career in consulting and social research, using mixed methods to redesign and strengthen public services - particularly for vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.