Nandita Pradhan Bhatt : What we try to question is about dignity

From selling horlicks in the Burdwan coalmine districts to studying filmmaking, this week’s guest on No-Cost Extension, Yasmin Madan has led a rich and varied life. 

After holding various senior level positions at PSI and serving as the Private Sector Lead at Thinkwell, Yasmini joined Co-Impact – a global philanthropic collaborative ‘supporting locally-rooted coalitions working to achieve impact at scale in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.’ At Co-Impact, Yasmin is the Director and US Lead for Philanthropic Collaboration.

Her extensive experience running country programs in Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Cambodia working across HIV, malaria, reproductive health, sanitation and cervical cancer led her to realise that there were genuine problems in the system that needed to be dealt with so that the system could serve its people in the long run. 

In this episode, Yasmin talks about how social innovation is not about disruption  but about coordination, collaboration and orchestration. We discuss the difference between funder attribution and contribution, the life changing work of Lend A Hand India, and why we have a moral obligation to impact and scale. 

You can read more about Co-Impact's work here https://co-impact.org/

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to https://www.dasra.org/nce  and follow Deval on X at @deval_sanghavi  and @Dasra

 

Deepa Pawar is the founder and director of the Anubhuti Trust, an organization formed and self-led by women, with the intention to work with youth on developing their leadership so that there are aware and responsible youth in society who can lead change for a more just and equitable world.

In this episode of No-Cost Extension, Deval and Deepa sit down at the Dasra office to talk about the stigmatization of Nomadic and Denotifed Tribes in India from the time of colonial rule, their unacknowledged role in the freedom struggle and how they have been historically viewed as outlaws. 

Deepa speaks of how NDT communities cannot be viewed only through the lens of vulnerability and marginalization, the contribution of women in keeping the culture of the community alive, and how Anubhuti Trust places agency and liberty at the heart of their approach to movement building.

She speaks of her accidental entry into the NGO sector, how Anubhuti came to be formed, the various areas their work touches upon - from Dalit activism to anti-caste feminism to environmental justice. 

Deepa is also a member of the Rebuild India Fund Investment Committee and discusses the need for the development sector to be experimental, the myopic lens through which we often look at results and success and how funders can sometimes get in the way of the work organisations are trying to do.  

For more information on Anubhuti’s work check out their website at https://www.anubhutitrust.org/. 

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to https://www.dasra.org/nce  and follow Deval on X at @deval_sanghavi  and @Dasra

All additional audio courtesy of Anubhuti Trust/Youtube and field recordings. 

 

What is it like to dedicate one's life to working for some of the most under-represented groups? Nandita Pradhan Bhatt is the Director of the Martha Farrell Foundation, an NGO that supports informal, migrant workers, mostly female domestic workers and adolescent children to build their leadership and collective voice against injustice. Nandita has been a civil society practitioner decades, and has worked extensively on gender inclusion and the prevention of sexual harassment against women.

In this episode of No-Cost Extension, Nandita speaks of her childhood on tea plantations in Dooars and Darjeeling, where her father was a senior manager and she had an upbringing that cultivated a deep sense of respect, dignity and privilege. Deval and Nandita discuss the issues that workers face and how they were invisible to her growing up.  But as the Director of the Martha Farrell Foundation these deep issues are now only too obvious to her now that she’s ‘on the other side’. 

After training as a special educator and working with young people, Nandita went back to college for a gender studies degree. She then worked with Dr. Martha Farell at PRIA, working in the space of gender mainstreaming in leadership and conducting gender audits of panchayats. From there her work has gone on to encompass sexual harassment at the workplace, the rights of domestic workers, and more. 

Nandita and Deval discuss equality and equity and the difference between the two, how young people have very definite ideas about what they want, and the Rebuild India fund, which Nandita says her heart is tied to. 

The Martha Farrell Foundation supports practical interventions which are committed to achieving a gender-just society and promoting life-long learning. You can find out more about them at https://www.marthafarrellfoundation.org/

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to https://www.dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on X at @deval_sanghavi  and @Dasra

 

After a short year end break, No-Cost Extension is back! In the first episode of 2024, Deval sits down with Deep Jyoti Sonu Brahma, co-founder of Farm2Food Foundation.

Deep speaks of his early years growing up and studying in Arunachal Pradesh, the impact the turbulent times in the North Eastern region had on him and later experiences with people led movements like the Narmada Bachao Andolan. His journey lead him back to Assam with a desire to work with young people and communities and place their needs at the centre. What grew from that desire was Farm2Food, a non-profit social enterprise working with communities to create sustainable, farm-based livelihoods, revive indigenous food traditions and improve the nutritional quality of the food people eat. 

Deep and Deval talk about the staggering diversity of India’s North Eastern states - culturally, linguistically and agriculturally - and why it’s important to protect this diversity from homogenisation. Deep shares how climate change has impacted communities, why ‘modernisation’ is not always the best thing, and how communities are increasingly disconnected from their natural surroundings. 

They also touch upon the work the Rebuild India Fund and it’s principles which deeply align with Deep’s own beliefs and practices. 

Listen to Deep and Deval discuss farming techniques, climate change, community led movements and why it’s important to place nature at the centre.

To know more about Farm2Food, visit http://farm2food.org

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to https://www.dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on X at @deval_sanghavi  and @Dasra

 

Revathi Radhakrishnan is the founder-director of the Vanavil Trust, a non profit founded in  2004 that supports children of two Nomadic communities: Boom Boom Mattikarars and Narikuravars, in Tamil Nadu. After 17 years of working with the communities, Vanavil now has grown into an organisation that works in child protection,  health and nutrition, holistic education and livelihoods.

As a child, Revathi was a vociferous reader, devouring whatever books she could lay her hands on. She had to give up her dreams of being a journalist and studied mathematics instead, but after graduating she went on to work in film, journalism and as a tv producer. Through her many professional avatars, Revathi kept her volunteering side alive. But it was the South Asian Tsunami of 2004 that set her onto the path that led to the formation of Vanavil.

Revati arrived in Nagapattinam to help with relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami. But it was the death of a young baby Lakshmi that cemented her decision to work more formally with children from nomadic tribes in her home state of Tamil Nadu.

In this episode of No-Cost Extension, Revathi tells Deval Sanghavi about the early years of working in this space and the heartbreak that goes along with it, what it means to be a member of a nomadic tribe, how they have been criminialised for centuries and the stigmas that still persist.

But this is a conversation laced with hope - Vanavil’s work in educating young people, the unconventional ways in which they got students in to their school and how they are propelled forward by their belief that all children have a right to their childhoods.

To know more about Vanavil Trust visit https://vanavil.org/ 

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on X at @Deval_Sanghavi and @Dasra

Season 3 of No-Cost Extension kicks off with host Deval Sanghavi in conversation with Dhruv Lakra, founder and CEO of Mirakle Couriers, a for- profit courier service that employs low income deaf adults thereby delinking charity with disability. 

Dhruv grew up in Kashmir before moving to Mumbai for college, after a brief stint as an investment banker he joined Dasra as one of the organisation’s first team members in 2004. He then went on to become a Skoll scholar at the Said School of Business, Oxford, after which he returned to India to bootstrap Mirakle Courier. 

In this episode, Dhruv talks about how perceptions around the social sector have changed in the last two decades, the personal motivation to begin a social enterprise that worked with people with disabilities, the stigma and social conditioning around disabilities that sets in very early in society, the flipside of bootstrapping, mental health and what he would have done differently. Plus, some stories you might not have heard before, like the time Dhruv, Deval and Neera were house mates.  

To know more about Mirakle Couriers visit https://www.miraklecouriers.com/

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on Twitter at @Deval_Sanghavi and @Dasra

Deval Sanghavi is back with a new season of No-Cost Extension! In this season Deval’s talking to some of the most committed social leaders from India and around the world on what it’s like to work towards the challenging goal of equity. Deval and his guests also speak about what it is like to run organizations post COVID, bootstrapping and entrepreneurship, the work of philanthropy, and what it is like to work with the most marginalized and excluded communities. 

Episodes drop November 30, 2023! Subscribe now where ever you get your podcasts to never miss an episode. For more information, go to www.dasra.org/nce. 

 

How does it all begin? Was there a singular experience or encounter that sparked a desire to work on social change? How do you go from being affected by an issue, to contributing a few times, to the realisation that there is more to this? - that working in social change could be the calling, or the profession, and how do you go from that to wanting to build an organisation and so much more?

In this No-Cost Extension special, we combed through our two seasons to bring you inspiring origin stories.  Anu Aga, and her daughter Mehr Padumjee talk about how they found their way into philanthropy.  Gagan Sethi, talks about the start of Janvikas, an organisation dedicated to fighting for human dignity and equality. And finally, Mathew Spacie on how Magic Bus, a foundation that uses a livelihood program to support disadvantaged youth and help them out of poverty, took shape. 

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on Twitter at @Deval_Sanghavi and @Dasra

 

Over the past two seasons, host Deval Sanghavi has talked about the idea of impact with his guests: what does it mean and what should it mean? How can we further our understanding of social impact? 

From the archives we bring you Donald Lobo of the Chintu Gudiya Foundation, Karen Doff of Sharanam Centre for Girls, Safeena Hussain of Educate Girls and Ravi Chopra and Jo McGowan Chopra from the Latika Royal foundation talking about impact and scale and how they look at these as individuals and organisation. 

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on Twitter at @Deval_Sanghavi and @Dasra

Gagan Sethi is the founder of Janvikas, an NGO that has worked in the space of holistic human development for over three decades. Gagan has helped set up several strategic organizations in the country, like Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Sahjeevan, Drishti, Centre for Social justice and the HID forum.

In this episode of No-Cost Extension, Deval and Gagan talk about disaster relief work, what happens when there’s discrimination in relief work and the toll working in the development sector takes on family relationships and mental health.   

 Gagan speaks of the impact of partition on his family, the social compact initiative and how his quarterly workshops with rural communities leave him energised.  

 You can follow Gagan and keep abreast of the work of Janvikas at www.janvikas.in

If you haven't listened to Deval's conversation with Aakash Sethi, go check out the first season of No-Cost Extension!

For more information on No-Cost Extension go to dasra.org/nce and follow Deval on Twitter at @Deval_Sanghavi and @Dasra