Nehal Sanghavi has served with USAID/India as the Senior Advisor for Innovation and Partnership in the Director’s Office since August 2012. He has more than 15 years of professional experience in international law, business, and development. Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Sanghavi was the Chief Operating Officer of Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, India’s first independent foreign policy think tank. Prior to that, he was with Dasra, a Mumbai- based strategic philanthropy advisory firm for twelve years as Director and General Counsel. Mr. Sanghavi also spent eight years practicing international law at various large international law firms in New York and Texas.

Nehal earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a concentration in Law from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence with a concentration in International Law from the University of Texas, School of Law in Austin, Texas. He is certified by the Supreme Courts of Texas and New York to practice law and served on the boards of a variety of non-profit organizations, including as President of the India Cultural Center in Austin, Texas.

Nehal is fluent in English, Spanish, Gujarati, and Hindi. In his leisure time, he enjoys spending time traveling, scuba diving, and engaging in other adventure sports. He is an American citizen with an Overseas Citizen of india status and lives in New Delhi with his wife and daughter.

In this episode with Deepak Nanda from CSRBOX, he talks about how innovation can drive change, what to keep in mind while looking for partners to collaborate with, and why USAID is working towards ending its need for existence.

He answers the following questions in the conversation:

1. Collaborative doing and Collaborative giving are some aspects that he feels strongly about. As his current role at USAID as the Senior Advisor for innovation and partnership, how does he approach these concepts to strike meaningful partnerships?

2. When it comes to partnering with organizations be it government or non-profit, a few issues that come forward are with regard to establishing a proper accountability mechanism and keeping a proper check on deliverables. What is it that he does to deal with them?

3. The amount of funds given the scale of projects that USAID involves in and the kind of partnerships and donors they are able to attach to a project are huge. Are there any specific tips that he can share for our listeners who are struggling with this aspect when it comes to scaling a project or making it sustainable?

4. Another aspect of his role revolves around dealing with innovations in the development sector. How does he research and evaluate them to define credibility?

5. What are some of the thematic areas that USAID is currently working on in India and what are the upcoming projects or interventions that it is looking to indulge in?

6. All the relief and development efforts of USAID are towards “Journey to Self- Reliance” or to end the need for its existence. How are they approaching it and how do they make sure your projects become self-sustainable after a point?

7. What are some of the aspects that he finds missing in the organizations that are working in the sector in India?

Impact-Talk is a series of views and interviews of CSR heads, impact leaders and change-makers, addressing development challenges in India. If you have an impact-maker in your network, please suggest/share details at csr@ngobox.org