“Empowering Urban Slum Women for Access to Land Rights” (Roof over the Head)
•Mahila Chetna (the Forum of Awakened Women) was formed in 1991 by INDCARE as a forum for women living in slums to address Shelter Rights at the micro level
•Threatened with eviction, INDCARE identified slum women as key stakeholders for housing on a need based/rights based approach
•Recognition of housing as critical focus for women empowerment
•Mobilised women to form Self Help Groups for economic empowerment and provided linkages with RMK, Ministry of Women and Child Development, for low cost housing using new technologies
•National Human Rights Commission approached for intervention against demolition and cases fought in Delhi High Court
About You
About You
First Name
Reeva
Last Name
Sood
About Your Organization
Organization Name
INDCARE TRUST
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+91-9971238222, 011-46567070
Organization Address
A-1/112, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi - 110029
Organization Country
India, DL
Country where this project is creating social impact
India, DL
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
“Empowering Urban Slum Women for Access to Land Rights” (Roof over the Head)
Describe your project
•Mahila Chetna (the Forum of Awakened Women) was formed in 1991 by INDCARE as a forum for women living in slums to address Shelter Rights at the micro level
•Threatened with eviction, INDCARE identified slum women as key stakeholders for housing on a need based/rights based approach
•Recognition of housing as critical focus for women empowerment
•Mobilised women to form Self Help Groups for economic empowerment and provided linkages with RMK, Ministry of Women and Child Development, for low cost housing using new technologies
•National Human Rights Commission approached for intervention against demolition and cases fought in Delhi High Court
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
What makes your project unique as it relates to the theme of this competition?
•Mahila Chetna Manch (MCM) was formed in 1991 as a forum for women living in the slums to address Shelter Rights. It dealt with the threat of evictions faced by slum women
•INDCARE mobilized women to take up the issue of forced evictions and resettlements
•MCM urged NHRC to declare forcible evictions as violation of fundamental rights
•Fought cases in High Court against unlawful demolition of 3 Meera Bagh, Posangirpur, Shankar Garden slum clusters in Delhi.
•MCM works towards the fuller realization of human dignity by respecting and promoting human rights for housing
• INDCARE was the first recipient for housing loan from the apex body of Microfinance, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh for urban slum women. Micro-finance till then had only been disbursed for livelihood issues
•Question was raised in Parliament regarding Shelter Rights for migrant population
•Awakening of grassroots level understanding of land rights
•Consensus building with networking partners and NGO's for safety and shelter rights for women living in slums, with emphasis on issues of homelessness through eviction
•Activation of Government machinery towards designing of policy for Shelter Rights
•Intervention of Judiciary and Human Rights Commission as key stakeholders as watch group
•Sensitization of political bodies towards community rights
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
Reeva Sood has over 21 years of experience in dealing with gender-specific issues in urban India by enabling women and empowering them through microfinance for their socio-economic growth. She mobilises them into Self Help Groups and provides linkages for Micro Credit, thus encouraging small entrepreneurship, community empowerment and capacity building.
In 1991, two years after she created INDCARE Trust, Reeva ventured into uncharted territory as she entered the slums of Delhi with the view of providing microfinance for the economic empowerment of women. She was confronted with the stark reality of the threat of eviction for the migrant population. Economic and social empowerment of women is critically linked to ownership of property and shelter rights. She understood that without shelter, microfinance for entrepreneurship had little relevance. What relevance does economic empowerment have when we don’t know when our homes will be demolished? These women would have to raise their voices against demolitions and that this could only be achieved only if they were in solidarity as a heterogeneous group.She mobilised these women to create solidarity amongst themselves and Mahila Chetna (the Forum of Awakened Women) was formed.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Who or what (i.e. youth, women, environment, etc.) benefits from your project, and why is your project critical?
The project is critical for the Empowerment of Women and their Right to Shelter.
•Addresses issues like security of tenure, affordability and habitat
•Facilitates possible strategies and solutions for low cost housing
•Focuses on enhancing skills and knowledge for housing advice, issues of homelessness, gender, land rights, discrimination of access to shelter by marginalized groups
•Linkages to Ministry of Women and Child Development through INDCARE Trust to build low cost homes using new technologies
•Essential to awakening to an understanding of rights at the grassroots level
•Sensitizing and activating of government machinery, both at executive and judicial level, to act as watchdogs for the community and designing of policy for change
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured.
•Mahila Chetna filed the first petition in India with the National Human Rights Commission for equitable use of land making INDCARE Trust the first agency in the nation to challenge land right issues for migratory workers.
•Women members actively fought cases in Delhi High Court against unlawful demolition of Meera Bagh, Shankar Garden and Posangipur slums.
•A pioneer in India by creating women Self Help Groups by providing linkages for micro finance in the area of housing through Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Ministry of Women and Child Development, for an amount of INR 40 lakhs. Initiated dialogue for loans for current year of INR One Crore
•Accessed Master Plan of 2001 to know areas under the deconstruction policy of Govt of India.
•Empowered women by enabling them with tools to fight for Urban Housing Rights and Fundamental Rights by recognizing housing as a critical issue for women empowerment
•Influencing of policy by creating forum of women to demand a pool of funds/credit line for Shelter Rights
•Led to awakening of grassroots level understanding of land rights, activation of Government machinery towards designing of policy, intervention of Judiciary and Human Rights commission as key stakeholders as watch group; sensitization of political bodies towards community mobilization
•ED, INDCARE was invited as speaker and delegate on habitat issues at various international and national symposiums like UN Habitat at Nairobi (Kenya),Fukuoka (Japan),Cebu (Philippines),UC Davis (California)etc
•35000 flats under JNNURM scheme for slum dwellers
How many people have been impacted by your project?
1,001 - 10,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
•Issues like tenure of land, habitability, affordability of housing
•Discrimination and the principle of restitution
•Delay in the process of approving credit for housing and the necessity to strengthen the perspective that poverty needs have to be addressed through faster processing of loans.
•Lack of political will for change of policy at the state and national level
•Gender sensitization is essential as women in the slums are invisible, especially to their men. The empowerment of women has no meaning if she is unable to access assets created on her own
•Being a migrant population especially in urban areas, savings are difficult owing to threat of demolition
•Skilled leadership at grassroots level for communication with urban local bodies
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
•INDCARE will ensure toilets attached to/adjacent to Slums and Low Income colonies as Delhi Municipal Corporation plans 439 Community Toilet Complexes in Delhi
•Build capacity for articulation of Shelter Rights as a Fundamental Right for a life of dignity
•Create networking partnerships
•Lobby with Government to create special fund
•Microfinance through an exclusive Women Bank for housing
•Withdrawal strategy to be adopted through community participation for sustainability
•MCM Solidarity Groups for acting on news article in TOI dt 2/2/11 for 35,000 flats by Govt to relocate slum clusters
•Act as Watch Group
Sustainability
For each selection, please explain the financial and non-financial support from each
•It is the support and encouragement from the family and friends that acts as morale booster and provides the impetus for enthusiasm.
•Individuals are the very basis on which the community is formed and rests, hence women of the slum are the key individual stakeholders and themselves are the pathfinders. Without them the project would have no meaning.
•Funds from the foundations are essential for the implementation and growth of the project.
•NGO’s form the network of alliances, for lobbying for policy change at the state and national level. Building of consensus with networking partners essential for creating the ideal environment for support for shelter rights of migrant population in the slums
•Business houses and private organizations create the fabric for providing key infrastructure for sustainable housing using new technologies for affordable housing for the urban poor
•Regional Government is the land owning agency and the National Government is responsible for land issues as a national subject. Inhabitants of these lands are a migrant population. Both national Government and regional Government are stakeholders and the target cannot be achieved if these issues are not addressed on a reciprocal basis.
•Equally important is creating the ideal environment and foundation for political will, local support, bureaucratic support and media advocacy to strengthen word, action and outreach.
How do you plan to grow and/or diversify your base of support in the next three years?
•Revisit our plan with different stakeholders
•Lessons learned through SWOT Analysis
•Build capacity in new territories, while using KAP (Knowledge Attitude Practice) to assess the need to involve grassroots level communities specially women for enhancing their knowledge and imparting training for attitudinal changes
•Lobby with Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (Ministry of Women and Child Development) for faster disbursement of loans and reduce interest rate.Increase loan term from short term to long term loans (over 10 years)
•Lobby for creation of a Women’s Bank for housing the urban poor
•Plan with corporate sector to endorse affordable technologies in housing under their CSR activities
•Network with corporate sector, Government, NGO partners, to strengthen ideologies and implement projected plans
•Special training manual to be designed for construction workers which involve their experience and skill as a pilot that can be replicated
•Impact assessment study can be conducted by the external body to review and justify the ongoing efforts for justifiable feedback.
•Members of MCM can form active watch groups to monitor stakeholder activities
•Seek new alliances and create a network, be it funds from corporate sector for CSR or funds from implementing agencies for housing with sustainable and new technologies
Collaboration
Please select your areas of intervention in the home improvement market
Technical assistance, Labor, Property rights, Sanitation, Renewable energy, Income generation, Urban development, Citizen/community participation, Public policy.
Is your innovation addressing barriers in the home improvement/progressive housing market? If so, please describe in detail your mechanisms of intervention
With the explosive growth of India’s migrant population in the urban slums, the need for adequate shelter has also grown. Land rights, particularly in the context of developing countries, are inextricably linked with the right to food, shelter, work and a host of other human rights. Right to land is bound up with the community’s right to identity, its livelihood and thus, its basic survival. Faced with the threat of eviction, security of land tenure is core to the purpose of women’s rights. The necessity to provide slum women with the confidence and knowledge of their rights combined with sensitization of their plight with the regional governmental machinery. Microfinance can be used as an important tool, to provide skills and knowledge of new and cheaper technologies for housing for the urban poor.
•Capacity building and land rights training for urban slum women for solidarity as a heterogeneous group
•Awareness and training of housing rights and safe environment through activity planned calendars
•Human Rights standards to be related to land ownership and land tenure
•Trainings to understand role and function of different government departments and a sound understanding of the urban bodies like local self-government
•Creating a bridge between the women of the slum and government organizations for redressal of grievances
•Lobby for the creation of pool of funds to be disbursed as loan in the long term (more than ten years), in an effective and timely manner with a minimum of paperwork for alternate housing.
•Creating a network for partnerships, from government, to NGO’s, businesses and individuals for addressing immediate poverty needs.
•Encouraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)through large businesses for financial and technical support for urban housing needs through affordable technology, to be tapped in the future
•To facilitate this opportunity, INDCARE has initiated a dialogue with Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (Ministry of Women and Child Development) to access Rs 1 crore for housing loans for the current year. This would benefit more than 200 women of low income groups
•Lobby with think-tank at executive, judicial level for policy change to address housing needs for urban poor
•Need to involve the media and develop closer interaction for advocacy on shelter rights
•Mahila Chetna Solidarity Groups will be acting on news article in TOI dt 2/2/11 for the construction of 35,000 flats by Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to relocate slum clusters for the economically weaker sections under JNNURM scheme of the Govt.
•Will act as Watch Group, monitor and evaluate
Are you currently collaborating with private companies, or have you partnered with private companies in the past? With which companies?
NA
Please describe in detail the nature of the partnership(s)
NA
Select the unit(s) with which the partnership was formed
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| 68 weeks agoReeva Sood updated this Competition Entry. |
| 68 weeks agoReeva Sood updated this Competition Entry. |
| 68 weeks agoReeva Sood updated this Competition Entry. |
| 68 weeks agoReeva Sood updated this Competition Entry. |
| 69 weeks agoReeva Sood updated this Competition Entry. |
| 69 weeks agoReeva Sood submitted this idea. |
