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Podcast: No Cost Extension

After 21 years in the development sector, Dasra co-founder, Deval Sanghavi has met some extraordinary people who have actively shaped the sector and his thinking. Through No-Cost Extension, an interview-style podcast, you will get a first-hand glimpse of India’s development sector from key figures and explore how they have contributed to making a positive impact on India’s future. Each episode will dive into the thematic areas of the guest’s work, explore pivotal moments of success, failures, and altered trajectories.

Join him in No-Cost Extension where he’ll unpack the mechanics of social change with philanthropists, NGO, foundation and community leaders to see how we can create a future where everyone can thrive.

Subscribe to our shows through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Hejang Misao on giving the youth of Manipur a hopeful future.


Hejang Misao is the founder and CEO of Integrated Social & Institutional Development for Empowerment (InSIDE-North East), an organization that works towards the empowerment of

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Vishal Talreja on rebuilding oneself and one’s organization after burnout

Twenty five years ago Vishal Talreja founded Dream-a-Dream as a voluntary effort in Mumbai with eleven other individuals who were committed to working with young people.

Since then,

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As mediators for our community's rights, we remain accountable for them

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

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Yasmin Madan says the metrics of success have to be remeasured.

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.

In this episode of

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What we try to question is about dignity

What is it like to work for some of the most marginalized groups? Nandita Pradhan Bhatt is the Director of the Martha Farrell Foundation, an NGO that supports informal, migrant workers, mostly

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Deep Sonu Jyoti Brahma says that our relationship with nature is broken.

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 tells Deval about

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Revathi Radhakrishnan says "When a child dies, hope dies".

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

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Rahima Khatun carries her father’s legacy in to the 21st century

Rahima Khatun has been associated with Nari-O-Shishu Kalyan Kendra (NOSKK) an NGO working extensively with the rights and dignity of women and children across West Bengal for over two

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Season 3 Trailer

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

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Loren Cardeli is taking on the Food Industrial Complex

Loren Cardeli is Executive Director at A Growing Culture, a non profit that believes in food sovereignty for everyone everywhere and works with farmers to ensure they decide what to grow, where to

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Going Platinum: Past, Present and Future of Civil Society in India @ 75

We interrupt regular programming on No-Cost Extension with Deval Sanghavi to bring you this panel discussion from Dasra Philanthropy Week 2023.

The Going Platinum: Past, Present and Future

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“We are all philanthropists” says Sonal Shah.

Sonal Shah has spent her career both in the private and public sector, including stints with Goldman Sachs, Google.org and The White House. She is currently the CEO of The Texas Tribune, a

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When you plan for the most vulnerable, you make the world work better for everyone

Jo McGowan and Ravi Chopra met in the 70s and fell in love through the post. They got married and moved to India in the early 80s and have since dedicated their lives to serving the communities

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Episode 6

How do you begin to break intergenerational cycles of poor health and violence in a megapolis? What evidence based models of urban health interventions can we look to?

Content Warning: This

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DPW Conversations: Bring The Community Voice Back

Dasra Philanthropy Week is an annual gathering of diverse stakeholders and voices from the development ecosystem to convene, converse and continue sustained action towards the quest for a billion

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The importance of Listening in Philanthropy with Alberto Lidji

How can we engage with policymakers in a timely and effective way? What can we do to address the power imbalance between the Global North and the Global South? Why does global philanthropy set

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Episode 5

How can we challenge the top-down approach to solving social problems? Can we build bridges between powerful sectors and community organisations? What role does sustained inner work play in

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Episode 4

How should funders be rethinking philanthropy in the wake of the pandemic? How can they take their egos out of the equation? How can they operate with a greater sense of urgency, transparency, and

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The Rebuild Conversations - 2

The Rebuild India Fund will support 1000 small community based organizations in the next decade through flexible funding and capacity building, enabling them to survive and thrive.

How do

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The Rebuild Conversations - 1

When COVID-19 hit, it made clear the undeniable fact of just how vulnerable our poorest communities are. It was a setback of huge proportions, creating a crisis that extended well beyond health to

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Episode 3

How can community philanthropy grow organically in a way that serves the community, unlocking its potential? Why do we use the word risk so much in philanthropy? How can family philanthropies

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Episode 2

Can urban discard be used as a tool to alleviate poverty? How can the poor be involved in evolving their own solutions with dignity? Why must we focus on the receiver’s dignity instead of the

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Episode 1

How can loving a sport lead someone to found an NGO? How can we empower young people to make their own life decisions, rather than giving them solutions? What is the secret to scaling such social

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Trailer

Deval Sanghavi is back with another season of No-Cost Extension, ready to engage more deeply with the theme of rebuilding. Through conversations with social leaders, small NGOs and voices from

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Episode 8 | Whether it's COVID or environmental issues, our children will always pay the biggest price says Safeena Husain

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Safeena Husain, the founder of Educate Girls, an NGO that works to support girls’ education across India. Educate Girls has just completed 14 years, and during this

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Episode 7 | Often we get stuck in taking these sides of are you a rights-based organization or are you a service delivery organization, the beauty is in looking at both sides, says Aakash Sethi

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Aakash Sethi, the CEO of Quest Alliance, a non-profit organization that equips young people with 21st-century skills. Aakash shares what it was like to grow up in a family

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Episode 6 | Unless idealism meets reality somewhere, it will always be two parallels running and never meeting, say Anu Aga and Meher Pudumjee

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Anu Aga and Meher Pudumjee, a mother and daughter philanthropic team who are deeply committed to equity and inclusion. While many families grapple with intergenerational

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Episode 5 | Hansal Mehta asks Deval Sanghavi, What's Bad Philanthropy?

This special episode is a conversation between Deval and Hansal Mehta that took place earlier this year at Dasra Philanthropy Week. Listen in as Hansal speaks to Deval about his perspectives on

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Episode 4 | Your intent is to make impact, there is no machine that can actually test that, says Vineet Rai

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Vineet Rai, the Founder and Chairman of Aavishkaar Group, a leading impact investment platform in the world. Although they have very different perspectives when it comes

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Episode 3 | What would happen to those lives if I closed the shelter down? Sharda Nirmal and Karen Doff from the Sharanam Centre

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Sharda Nirmal, the force behind the Sharanam Centre, a home for girls in Dharavi, Mumbai, and Karen Doff, the founder of the Aasha Foundation and a longtime collaborator

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Episode 2 | If you're doing something for the public good, why don't you give the public ownership of it? Asks Donald Lobo

Deval Sanghavi speaks to Donald Lobo, one of India's most unassuming philanthropists. Listen in as Lobo deftly steers the conversation away from the Rolling Stones article he was featured in, and

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Episode 1 | Do you really want them to be sitting in front of an excel sheet? Asks Suparna Gupta

In the first episode of No Cost Extension, Deval sits down to talk to Suparna Gupta, the founder of Aangan Trust, a Mumbai-based foundation that works with vulnerable children. Listen in as they

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