From discussions with the community and Government officials, the founders quickly realized two things – The available slum data was inconclusive and disjointed with the ground realities. There is a need to involve the communities in designing interventions meant for them. This led to the development of SA’s theory of change which is data-driven and community-centric.
A year of continuous efforts and iterations in the late ’90s resulted in a well-tailored Geographical Information System (GIS). A team of trained GIS started slum mapping, creating spatial layouts of the collected socio-economic and infrastructure data. Soon we undertook citywide poverty mapping under Pune Municipal Corporation and pioneered the use of spatial data and technology for developing evidence-based interventions in Maharashtra.
The best demonstration of our approach has been leveraging spatial data for our One Home One Toilet (OHOT) project through which we have delivered 26,000 household toilets on a cost-sharing basis in various slums across 7 cities of Maharashtra. This project became our flagship initiative which has vastly improved the sanitation and health of 1.5 lakh slum dwellers.
As architects, SA founders believe that a quality built-in environment has great potential to affect social change. With this thought, the team worked passionately towards an important milestone – the first social housing project at Dattawadi, Pune in 1996-97. The project was unique since the community women were made in charge of ensuring that their homes were built. This approach set a precedent for all our future projects – that of a holistic process of designing and including the community in every step of the project. Today a live slum redevelopment project at Bondre Nagar in Kolhapur is setting an example of being a unique Beneficiary Led Construction under Government’s PMAY housing scheme.
In the last 3 decades, we have directly impacted 4 lakh, slum dwellers, across 650 slums in Maharashtra. This was possible only by bringing various Urban Local Bodies and community people on the same platform. Using the objective strength of data and sensitivity lent by deep community engagement, we create a level playing field where multiple stakeholders can easily collaborate to achieve a shared vision. This changes the power dynamic and the communities become equal partners in this continuously evolving story of urban development.

Core Values

1. Dignity:  We nurture respectful relationships
2. Quality work:  We exceed expectations, ensure sustainable outcomes
3. Honesty:  We seek, present, and abide by the truth
4. Innovation:  We find new ways to serve better
5. Team work:  We build together
6. Collaboration:  We engage all stakeholders in decision making