Shelter Associates

Shelter Associates (SA), an NGO based in Pune who actively works on Sanitation and Housing in slums for a few cities of Maharashtra, has also invested in creating spatial data on slums of 7 cities of Maharashtra in the last 2 decades and made data driven approach a vital component of its work. Based in Pune, SA comprises architects, social workers, geographic information systems (GIS) analysts and community workers. The launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, gave impetus to our work and hence SA focused attention to household sanitation in slums by launching its ‘One Home One Toilet’ (OHOT) model.
More than 2 billion people across the world still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines (UNICEF Data). Of these, millions still defecate in the open and a majority of them live in India. Slum settlements are typically low-income, high density settlements having low disease immunity and inadequate medical facilities. These settlements form an integral and important part of the city’s economy but are often unaddressed.
The risk has heightened in the current COVID pandemic where families residing in slums are forced to use community toilet facilities or open spaces. Apart from health related issues, open defecation also inflicts safety concerns on women, causes distress to the elderly and disabled and poses environmental risks. Also, the current solutions offered by governments through Community Toilets (CTBs) to address the sanitation problem are not the most effective solutions. Cities look at CTBs as ‘One Glove Fits All’ solutions. They have inadequate toilet seat to person ratio, are unsafe for women, incur high capital costs and have high maintenance costs which very often lead to disrepair.
The OHOT model is data driven, community centric with a very inclusive and cost sharing approach. It is an ongoing process through which SA has delivered over 20,000 toilets in the slums of selected urban cities of Maharashtra impacting over 3,70,000 people directly and indirectly.
There are 3 main components of delivering toilets under the OHOT model.
1. Data and GIS Mapping
2. Mobilizing Communities
3. Delivering Toilets

We have three separate informative booklets detailing the above steps which we call the Shelter Associates Toolkit. It is uploaded on our website and also on the Swachh Bharat Urban Portal after getting validated by the Government of India.
Shelter Associates follow a very inclusive approach. It involves the Urban local bodies and the community right at the core of its work. We share our spatial maps with the ULBs who validate and legitimize our data and use it for other poverty alleviation projects as well. In fact, the Municipal Corporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kolhapur, Thane, Navi Mumbai have linked their website with Shelter Associates’ spatial data. Municipal engineers and officers often attend our community meetings so as to build trust amongst slum residents, and where needed, make budgetary provisions to build and improve the sewerage networks which are essential before building toilets.
SA also strongly emphasizes on including community voices in the delivery of toilets. Taking note of specific needs with respect to toilet design, addressing questions and concerns, and follow-ups are done for individual households so as to make sure that the OHOT model is adapted to people’s own requirements. This process further allows us to build relationships with the community and resolve conflicts, helping us reach even more households.
The below key differentiators make the OHOT model unique and more effective than traditional sanitation models.
Regular Monitoring - We have integrated a robust and well-structured monitoring system into our model. Information is monitored and updated on a web-based platform to make it accessible to our entire team.

Replicability - SA has launched an easily replicable toolkit (On our website: http://shelter-associates.org/) detailing the step-by-step process followed for the OHOT model so that like-minded NGOs and organizations can successfully. The toolkit is also validated and uploaded on Government of India’s Swachh Bharat urban website.

Scalability - Several Municipal Corporations across the cities of Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kolhapur and Thane are replicating SA’s OHOT model in delivery of household sanitation under SBM. SA has scaled from operating in one city in 2005 to seven cities today.
Traceability - A Toilet Completion Factsheet, including family details and a photo of the finished toilet, is filed for every toilet and linked to a specific house on the GIS Map. It is accessible to government officers or donors, allowing for a transparent and traceable use of funds.
Sustainability – OHOT projects implemented even 10-15 years ago are not only in use but have also been upgraded by the families. Besides these efforts, the OHOT model also sets up a Sanitation Committee in each slum that it visits formed of residents who are motivated to take on a leadership position there. The committees become instrumental in solving not only sanitation but other community-level issues ensuring long-term impact of our work.
The recent pandemic has resulted in an increased demand for home toilets and SA is seeking support for the OHOT project to facilitate 2000 toilets for the year 20-21 across slums in 4 cities of Maharashtra. The cost of each toilet is approximately $275.

PLUS CODES: REACHING OUT TO INDIVIDUAL SLUM HOUSEHOLDS
Due to the Covid19 crisis and understanding the critical situation in the slums, Shelter Associates have introduced new technologies and concepts that would help the Government in reaching out to vulnerable families and provide the required relief. One such is Plus Codes in coordination with Google.
In cities of Maharashtra, Slum houses do not have a unique address by which one can accurately navigate to the exact hut in case of emergency or for delivery of essential services. Lack of granular data on slums hampers governments from systematic monitoring and tracking the spread of this virus and then fighting and mitigating this pandemic and thus it is now even more necessary that we have a good tracking mechanism in place when it comes to individual households in slums.
Therefore, deploying google plus code, which are unique codes given to each hut in the slum, is one of the ways of ensuring that every house gets a unique address which will help ULB to navigate effectively. Navigation to each house will be visible on Google map and will be accessible to the public. Number plates with the plus code would be fixed on the doors of huts for ready reference of the unique address. The Urban Local Bodies will then link this new data to their existing data through which they can access and update the household data more precisely. They will be able to spatially pinpoint and analyze its database and use the same for effective and efficient service delivery.
Granular data on slum households enhancing the ability of the government in dealing with the crisis such as COVID 19 by knowing their exact locations and demographics.
Moreover, a legal identity would be given to the slum dwellers through this Government recognised address for easy accessibility of services such as water, electricity, opening bank accounts, healthcare, postal services and other benefits and welfare schemes.

Shelter Associates is seeking funding support of $40,000 for a pilot project to conduct a citywide slum household survey to assign plus codes to every slum house in Kolhapur city; and help the Government and local NGOs to reach out to the needy families during such pandemics. An MOU has already been signed with the ULB who have agreed to institutionalise this data.

HOUSING INITIATIVE
Shelter Associates have been providing security of tenure and ease of living to slum families through housing projects since 1996 with three slum rehabilitation projects at Pune and Sangli-Miraj. Over 9000 individuals have been impacted through the below projects:
1. Rajendra Nagar - 56 families
2. Kamgar Putla - 176 families
3. IHSDP project of 29 slums - 3465 families
We continue our housing efforts through our Bondre nagar slum project at Kolhapur, Maharashtra to rehabilitate 77 slum families on the same site. The project is under the PMAY scheme of the Government of India. The housing designs have been finalised and town planning approvals have been sanctioned. The total cost of each house is $7700 of which the PMAY subsidy will be $3300 and the beneficiary families contribute partly to this project. We are looking for a partial subsidy to cover the entire cost.
We seek a funding support of $2000 per family to go ahead with the project. The beneficiary families have been identified and have opened separate bank accounts to receive the government subsidy.