Department for International Development Drivers of Urban Change
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FILM | On the Right Track - India

   
 

Introduction
Guided by Homeless International, Earth Report took to the streets and went 'down and out' in some of the world's most deprived city districts and found that the urban poor are very far from seeing themselves as 'down' or 'out'.

'Home' for 30,000 families of Mumbai, one of the world's most densely populated cities, was a narrow strip alongside the city's main railway track. In 1989 these residents formed the Railway Slum Dwellers Federation to lobby the authorities for safer housing. Seeing the need for slum-dwellers to speak with one voice they found solidarity with three other groups - The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, The National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan which in Hindi means 'women together'. 2000 households were relocated to apartment buildings but the remainder still live in self-built 'transit' housing. But Gandhian-style quiet determination seems to be paying off. By May 2001 this extraordinary collective managed to relocate 13,000 families to safer accommodation.

The slum dwellers associations and the people they represent keep coming up with workable alternatives. In fact, they've been so successful that other federations are urging their governments to visit Mumbai to see for themselves how working with the poor can achieve results.

 

For further information, please contact:

Homeless International
Queens House
16 Queens Road
Coventry CV1 3DF
UK
Phone: +44 (0) 24 76632802
Fax: +44 (0) 24 76632911
info@homeless-international.org
http://www.homeless-international.org

Mahila Milan
C/O SPARC

The National Slum Dwellers Federation
C/O SPARC

SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Ressource Centres)
PO Box 9389, Mumbai 400026, India
tel/fax: 00 91 22 386 5053
admin@sparcindia.org

http://www.sparcindia.org

 

 


2003 Development Planning Unit | Sikandar Hasan | Anna Soave | Khanh Tran-Thanh || Tina Simon