Shelter Associates

Moving Forward at Aba Dhotre

2011-07-06T16:32:00.001+05:30

Residents from the Aba Dhotre and Chetana Apartment slums are intensely involved in the rehabilitation and relocation process. They are working closely with local councilors and the SMKMC to validate their project's beneficiary list and to make sure that all qualifying families are provided with new housing.

Click on the picture to read the full story (pdf).

Bhoomi Pujan at Aba Dhotre

2011-03-23T16:01:00.002+05:30

A bhoomi pujan, or groundbreaking ceremony, was held at the Aba Dhotre construction site in Sangli on the 24th of February.

Community members from the Aba Dhotre and Chetana Apartment slums came together to host the ceremony, which blessed the ground and construction of their future home.

It was a remarkable and historical event. It is evidence of the fact that slum rehabilitation, when done properly, can strengthen communities as well as bring them together.

Click on the picture to read the full story (pdf).

Saree Bags Livelihood Project

2011-02-18T13:14:00.007+05:30

Shelter Associates has been working on developing livelihood projects to help support the women of Pune and Sangli.

One such project is the Saree Bag Project, which teaches destitute women how to sew reusable shopping bags out of used sarees and discarded fabric. The project is designed to support the women financially, to increase their confidence in their skills and ability to support their families, and to give them a greater voice in family and community decisions. The saree bags also serve as a practical alternative to plastic bags and promote environmental awareness.

Click on the picture to read the full story (pdf).

Shivrai Nagar in the News

2011-01-21T11:14:00.005+05:30

On 17th January, Shelter Associates gave a presentation in the community of Shivrai Nagar to tell residents more about their work, and celebrate the completion of 105 individual toilets in the settlement.

Shivrai Nagar is one of a number of unregistered slums in the Bibewadi area of Pune, where residents lack access to basic facilities such as clean water, waste disposal and sanitation. Lack of toilet provision was a pressing problem, with over 2000 people forced to defecate in open space prior to Shelter Associates' involvement.

The presentation was well attended by community members, along with representatives from our partners Swadhar; Friends of Shelter Associates(FSA); and the Municipal Corporation. Sunil Bhatia, the founder of FSA, had travelled to Pune from the US to visit. His charity raised 40,000 USD towards the individual toilet project, in which toilets were provided to families on a cost-sharing basis.

The presentation began with an introduction from Angali Bapat, of the NGO Swardhar, who first invited Shelter Associates into the settlement. Then it was the turn of Shelter Associates community workers, who explained the project in more detail. They used aerial photographs and coloured plans to display their survey information in a way that was easy for everyone to understand. They also showed photographs of the terrible garbage situation in the settlement before the clean up - accompanied by peals of laughter from those who had forgotten how shocking the situation had been only a short time ago.

The most memorable moment of the day was when community members stood up to tell their own stories. These personal responses to the project were not scripted and gave a powerful illustration of the difference a toilet had made for individual families.

Despite the celebrations, work in Shivrai Nagar is far from over. Shelter Associates is working to extend individual toilet provision within the settlement and to the surrounding areas, where the sanitation situation is acute. Survey work is currently underway in some of these neighbouring communities.

Visit the press section of our website to read articles about the event from Indian Express, Sakal and Lokamat.

Chullahs and Workshops

2011-01-10T16:39:00.002+05:30

Volunteer Miles Phillips has made two new videos about our recent work, which are now available on the Shelter Associates' YouTube channel.

These give a brief introduction to two of our current projects in Sangli:

Smokeless Cooking Stoves (Chullahs), developed by the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute ARTI, have been provided free of charge by Shelter Assocaites to some of the poorest families.

Children's Workshops to teach slum children about environmental responsibility, have been taking place since March 2010. Take a look at our previous posts for a more information.

Children's Workshops Continue in Sangli

2010-12-30T14:30:00.005+05:30

Shelter Associates has been running a series of workshops for children in the slums of Sangli. They are targeted at 10 and 12 year-olds, whose families will soon be relocated under the Government of India's JNNURM scheme. The workshops take place in a fun and informal atmosphere, where the children have the chance to get to know their new neighbours and learn about their role as future caretakers of their environment.

Following a series of six introductory 'ice-breaking' workshops, there will be further sessions on Health & Nutrition, Water, and Sanitation & Waste.

Click on the picture to read the full story (pdf), and look out for our Children's Workshop video, coming soon to the Shelter Associates website.

Sanitation in Shivrai Nagar

2010-12-30T12:22:00.002+05:30

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.

Click on the picture to read the full story (pdf).

Workshop for Community Children of Sangli

2010-09-23T12:58:00.008+05:30

In collaboration with NiBo, Shelter Associates conducted a two-day workshop for children on August 21st and August 22nd. The workshop covered 8 slums in the cities of Sangli, Miraj, Kupwad (all three of which form a municipal corporation). 80 children between the ages of 10 and 12 participated.

This workshop is the first in a series that is being planned for the slum kids of Sangli and the surrounding areas who are part of the IHSDP (Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme) portion of the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) program of the Government of India. There are 29 slums covering almost 3800 families that will be relocated as part of this project.

Shelter Associates believes that these children are the future caretakers of their new environment. Any efforts made at this tender and impressionable age to teach them about environmental issues will help in building a sense of responsibility towards the upkeep of their new homes and environment. The workshops aim to impart learning through fun and games in an informal atmosphere. The themes will tackle health and hygiene and other environmental related issues. Each group will be taken through 6 workshops over the next 5 months.

For more information, please read our flyer on children's workshops (pdf).

Model House Exhibition

2010-05-15T15:53:00.003+05:30

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.

Shelter Associates is Google Earth Hero

2009-12-18T15:18:00.002+05:30

Google Earth has featured Shelter Associate's work under their 'Google Earth hero Campaign'. SA was chosen because it has been using Google earth as a tool to help the poor get access to basic services and housing. A short video has been made.

Click the link to view the video!

Citizen's Forum Launched in Sangli

2009-12-04T11:04:00.001+05:30

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.

Children's Day

2009-11-13T12:07:00.031+05:30

On Wednesday 12 November, Shelter Associates conducted an art workshop in the Sangli office for children from the slums. The children came after school, and were asked to draw pictures of their "dream house" - the results were colorful, creative, and unique.

Below, see some of the creations.

14 November is Children's Day in India.

Happy Children's Day from Shelter Associates and Baandhani!

Lake Innovation Conference

2009-11-04T13:31:00.000+05:30

Pratima Joshi, Executive Director of Shelter Associates, recently participated in a social media technologies workshop through the Ashoka Foundation. Identified as having used web 2.0 and/or social media technologies to advance SA's work, she was invited to the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center in Northern Italy. The purpose of the workshop was to determine how an NGO can best use social media tools to transform their work and generate ideas and solutions to specific problems. Innovative social change work can be accelerate with the use of innovative communications technologies.

Watch this short film showing the Ashoka Fellows and workshop administrators who attended:

Diwali Art in Sangli

2009-10-13T12:21:00.002+05:30

As Diwali is approaching and schools are closed for the holiday, children in Sangli (mostly aged 14-16) have had the opportunity to participate in creative art workshops organized for them by Shelter Associates and Baandhani. The art materials have been provided by Flexmag Impex, Pune. Below, see some of their latest creations for Diwali.

HAPPY DIWALI FROM
SHELTER ASSOCIATES
AND BAANDHANI!

Smokeless Chullahs in Sangli

2009-09-21T13:56:00.017+05:30

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), three billion people – or half of the world’s population – cook their meals indoors over biomass-fueled open fires. Not only is the majority of this heat wasted, 20% of it is converted into toxic substances like carbon monoxide, benzene, and formaldehyde. In India alone, 500,000 people die annually as a result of indoor air pollution (IAP). Disproportionately, the majority of these victims are women and young children, as they spend the most time around indoor fires. These deaths are brought on by IAP-related diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. (Information from envirofitcookstoves.org)

In order to combat this health hazard, Shelter Associates has taken on the task of raising awareness about and making available smokeless chullahs (stoves) to families in slums throughout Sangli. These chullahs, acquired through ARTI (Appropriate Rural Technology Institute), are incredibly durable, practical, and greatly reduce toxic emissions and fuel use – directly benefiting the health of women and children. Costing approximately $15, Shelter Associates has developed a mechanism in which the people can pay for their chullahs in installments.

Abha Dhotre is an area in Sangli that first took the initiative of ordering smokeless chullahs in bulk. These chullahs were presented in the community on 16 July 2009. The meeting was attended by the self-help group on savings, Pratima Joshi (Executive Director of Shelter Associates), Lata Shrikhande (Associate Executive Director of Shelter Associates), Mr. Pravin More, Mr. Vivek Raman, Mr. Ravi (with WSP from the World Bank in Delhi), Sharda Kamble (president of the savings groups Shivan and Omkar), and Sunita Patil (the local corporator). In addition, the meeting was attended by more than fifteen women of Abha Dhotre and their children, along with Shelter Associates’ members from Pune and Sangli. The meeting was held at the Urdu Madarsa primary school that serves as a community center during the off-hours. While the women were happily receiving their new chullahs along with lemongrass bulbs gifted by Shelter Associates in homemade recycled paper bags, tea was prepared outside on one of the smokeless chullahs!

During the distribution, Lata Shrikhande addressed the future success of these chullahs: “Shelter Associates had interacted with the women regarding vermicomposting before, which was a new idea to them at that time. I am confident that as they accepted vermicomposting as a new idea, similarly they will be able to make a transition and adapt to the smokeless chullahs in their own interest. Even the savings group we started and supported by economic activities has been successful due to people’s participation.”

Pravin More recalled his own childhood in a small village in Maharashtra where a smoke-filled kitchen was a common sight. He remembered his grandmother coughing away as she worked over her smoke-filled stove in the kitchen for the lack of a better alternative. Things just got worse in the rainy season as the wood would be damp. He appreciated Shelter Associates’ work as they are in tuned to the needs of the people. Mr. More has traveled all across the country meeting non-profits, local government bodies, CBOs, and NGOs. He has visited Shelter’s work in Sangli that was initiated nine years ago and is still in great working condition. He believes that when all stakeholders (i.e. the community, the NGO, and the local governance) work together to reach a common vision, there is no limit as to what can be achieved.

Sharda Kamble expressed full faith in Shelter Associates’ social workers and their work with the community. Drawing classes, embroidery lessons, and savings groups have all brought the community members closer to one another. She recalled a public demonstration of the smokeless chullahs done by Shelter last month. One of her neighbors, Vidhya, has already bought a smokeless chullah and is happy to be cooking her family’s food on it. All the local cuisine such as bhakri can be cooked in this way. She mentioned that we tend to stick to our traditional ways regarding cooking, but technology and changing times can shift this tendency. She gave an example of Maghde, a middle-aged housewife, whose health has greatly suffered from the indoor air pollution of smoke-filled kitchens. She also reminded the women how often they get burned from operating a traditional chullah, suggesting that they be prepared for this change to smokeless chullahs. Sharda concluded by stating that whether she is around or not, the women can always count on Shelter Associates for giving good advice!

As the people will be moving into multi-storied buildings, the traditional way of cooking on the wood stove will no longer be feasible. Pratima Joshi articulated this concern, taking into consideration the wish of the women to continue to cook traditional cuisine in their new housing settings. Using smokeless chullahs makes this possible, while drastically improving the health of the women and their families. Clearly, the time for smokeless chullahs is now, as traditions must be thoughtfully adapted to accommodate modern changes.