Moving Forward at Aba Dhotre

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).