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India: Responding to Urban Growth
Living in slum conditions makes children, the elderly and those who are sick particularly vulnerable to public health epidemics, resulting in high mortality rates. But residents have historically had limited ability to improve their living conditions. Their existence is typically not recorded in local demographic data or maps, most do not have rights to the land upon which they live, and they deal with the constant fear of eviction. Moreover, as residents’ earnings are often irregular, and their access to banks limited, they are often preyed upon by unscrupulous moneylenders.
As a result, CHF International, with support from the US Agency for International Development, recently completed the Sahbhagi Yojana 2 Support Program (SY2SP) to revitalize the physical and social infrastructure of these slums in a way that helped residents not only improve their habitat but built a sense of community. Under SY2SP, CHF worked in partnership with local municipal corporations, including the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), and improved the lives of more than 29,000 families in the cities of Ahmedabad,
In the Indian cities of Pune, Bangalore and Nagpur, up to half of residents live in rapidly expanding slums, making it difficult to obtain basic amenities that can often be taken for granted – access to clean water, reliable shelter, and even trash removal. CHF is working to bring together community organizations, NGOs, and local governments to improve the living conditions and future opportunities of slum residents in these three cities.
Our current program, Slum Communities Achieving Livable Environments with Urban Partners (SCALE-UP), supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is working in India and Ghana to incorporate not only local community organizations and NGOs but also local governments and academic institutions in the search for solutions to pro-poor growth.
