Angelo Wijaya, Policy Analytics Credential 2021

Hailing from Central Java, Indonesia, Angelo Wijaya has dedicated himself to international relations and diplomacy. Through his educational, professional, and volunteering experience, Wijaya has immersed himself in global issues spanning climate change, environment, and youth policy.

Wijaya earned his Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Universitas Gadjah Mada, where he gained a solid foundation in international affairs through work and travel opportunities. “During my time at Universitas, I was afforded the opportunity to join Interpol Indonesia, where I provided general assistance to the Indonesian National Police during the 85th General Assembly of Interpol. However, the most influential event I attended through university was probably the APEC Vietnam Youth Summit in 2017. It was the first time I saw young people able to enact change and that world leaders were willing to meet us in-person and listen to our suggestions,” said Wijaya. 

Wijaya also held internship positions at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the World Resources Institute (WRI) while an undergraduate student.

After completing his bachelor’s, Wijaya went on to work for the World Bank Group (WBG). “I first worked with the environment team of The World Bank on the governance and fiscal policy instruments to improve the governance of lowlands in Indonesia. I then went on to work as a consultant for ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance] and gender issues for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the WBG whose mission is to reduce global poverty. I had the good fortune to work on projects across seven different countries in East Asia, the Pacific, and South Asia, which heightened my awareness of the unique needs of each location.”

"It was this work," Wijaya said, "that inspired me to pursue Harris’ Policy Analytics Credential (PAC). “I was working on a project in Sri Lanka for the IFC, and I had to deal with data at a massive scale using Excel. It was very stressful, so I wanted to learn more about data analytics to make my workflow easier in the future."

The program, Wijaya said, was exactly what he needed. “For someone like me—who had no prior experience in coding, stats or econ—the structure and pace of the course still allowed me to understand it all. Professor Austin Wright structured the curriculum well, and he was very patient and supportive. He was willing to review everything over and over again until we got it.”

Currently working as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group where he is helping Indonesia prepare for the upcoming G20 Summit that will be hosted in Indonesia,

Wijaya’s experience in the PAC inspired him to continue his study of data analytics. “Since completing the PAC, I’ve taken another course on Python. These are all skills I can definitely see myself using in the future.”

Wijaya said that in addition to learning better data practices through the PAC, he also learned how to apply data skills within the context of policy questions. “I don’t think many schools offer this kind of program, where they specialize in teaching data analytics from a public policy perspective. This course taught us how to apply what we were learning to real world policy problems.”