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 of the centre. The Sharanam Centre is not an institution - it is a home. Sharda talks about how she established the Sharanam Centre as a young woman and with her husband over twenty years ago, and describes how she learnt to manage resistance from the community, and what it was that the girls really needed. Karen first encountered Sharanam as a visitor, but soon became a close collaborator, working with Sharda, and finding ways for many people - from her mom’s hairdresser, to her colleague at work - to support the centre. Listen in as Karen talks about what giving, scale and sustainability really mean when dealing with the lives of individuals, and how to inspire everyday givers to contribute to the long, hard work of working with children in the development sector.

Sharda Nirmal is the force behind the Sharanam Center, a shelter home for girls in Dharavi, Mumbai that is a part of the Community Outreach Programme (CORP India). Sharda and her husband set up Sharanam twenty years ago, when Sharda was twenty-two years old. Karen Doff is the founder of the Aasha Foundation.

This interview was recorded in early 2021.
To know more about the Sharanam Centre, please go to: http://sharanamcentre.org/
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