Sanitation in Shivrai Nagar

Street view of Shivrai Nagar

Street view of Shivrai Nagar

Sanitation Projects are an important part of Shelter Associates’ ongoing work in the city of Pune. Click on the picture below to read about one such project in the community of Shivrai Nagar, where more than 100 individual toilets have been constructed over the last five months.

Although Shelter Associates were initially invited into the community to provide toilets, it quickly became apparent that this just was one of a number of issues facing the residents of this settlement. Working together with local people, Non-Governmental Organizations and the Municipal Corporation of Pune, Shelter Associates were also able to help residents of Shivrai Nagar with sewerage and waste collection.

Following the success of work in Shivrai Nagar community workers from Shelter Associates have begun surveying neighbouring communities, where residents are keen to start similar sanitation projects.

 

Model House Exhibition

On 2nd May, a model house exhibition was held at Indira Nagar slum in Sangli. The aim of the exhibition was to illustrate the approved ISHDP scheme to the slum community and to give them an opportunity to experience 1:1 spaces within their tenements before they get built. A gallery of panels were displayed leading to the model house that demonstrated the community mobilisation efforts of Shelter Associates over the last decade in various slums of the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation.

 

 

 

 The exhibits also showed SA’s efforts over the last year in raising awareness about the IHSDP project not only in slum communities but also the general citizenry. On this page you can find the panels that were exhibited on the day as well as a short film illustrating the construction of the model house on site at Indira Nagar. The aim was to allow the community to begin to experience their future homes at a scale that was meaningful to them. Over three hardworking days, Shelter’s team worked alongside members of the community to construct a 1:1 bamboo replica of a single apartment.

 

 

 

 

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Citizen’s Forum Launched in Sangli

On 18th November, Shelter Associates facilitated the launch of a citizen’s forum in Sangli. Earlier this year, the Government of India approved a project for the rehabilitation of 29 slums covering 3800 families (which is almost 50% of Sangli’s poor) and sanctioned a special amount of Rs. 95 crores under the IHSDP (Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme) of the JNNURM (Jawahalal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission).

SA decided to facilitate a citizen’s forum in Sangli so that residents could play a more active role in the rehabilitation of Sangli slums. Often times, citizens want to contribute to their city’s development but are not quite sure how to get involved. This problem is especially acute in small cities like Sangli, which are already handicapped by lack of sufficient staff, expertise and funds. SA’s citizen’s forum remedies this problem by creating a platform through which citizens can work with the local government and NGOs to state their opinions and voice their concerns.

There were several stakeholder representatives who attended the meeting and these included:
• Municipal corporation officers and elected members
• Local NGOs,
• Local media representatives
• Interested citizens
• Beneficiaries of the project

At the end of the meeting a core committee was formed. Below is the local press coverage of this event.

 

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Shelter Associates is a ‘Google Earth Hero’

Google Earth has featured Shelter Associate’s work under the Heroes of Google Earth campaign.  Shelter Associates was chosen for it’s innovative use of Google Earth as a urban planning and development tool to help the urban poor gain access to housing and essential services (water and sanitation).
Shelter Associates is the only organisation in India to be named as a ‘Google Earth Hero’ and shares the accolade with only 8 other organiations internationally.
A short (3 minute) film has been made by Google to explain Shelter Associates use of Google Earth and is viewable via the Google Earth web page:
IHSDP from above: