Shelter Associates

Meet the Changemaker

Shelter Associates partners with slum communities and local authorities to study slum settlements and to facilitate the development of housing and basic infrastructure including sanitation and water.

Achievements:

Shelter Associates has provided individual toilets to over 4,200 families from vulnerable slums across 4 cities in Maharashtra (India). Shelter’s work has directly impacted the lives of over 30,000 individuals who would otherwise defecate in the open or depend on unhygienic and dilapidated community toilet blocks. These individuals have also benefited from the health and hygiene-awareness focused workshops conducted by Shelter.
City-wide mapping in four cities: Shelter Associates has completed the city-wide geographic information system (GIS) mapping of 3 cities in Maharashtra, namely Pune, Sangli and Pimpri Chindhwad, and is on its way to completing its 4th city – Kolhapur. Detailed maps are prepared for all the slums in the city, which creates a rich resource and tool for transparency in Shelter’s project as well as serves as a database for other Government and NGO projects.
Leveraging Effective Partnerships: Shelter has been able to build strong relationships with the urban local bodies (Municipal Corporation) in the 4 cities of operation, to jointly solve the problem of urban sanitation. Shelter has been able to garner the trust of the municipal corporation, and has received support across cities to repair and expand sewerage networks in the slums.

Awards and Accolades

Shelter has been recognized as one of 9 global ‘Google Earth Heroes’ (only winner from India) for their pioneering use of Google Earth. Shelter Associates won the Dasra Giving Circle on Urban Sanitation in India, amongst other leading organizations working in urban sanitation.
Shelter was also awarded the ‘Best Practices Award – for Low Cost Sanitation solutions by Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), a public sector undertaking in India, for the partnership with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)

Meet the Leader

Pratima Joshi is one of the founding members of Shelter Associates (SA).
An architect by profession, Pratima has been recognized globally as an expert on urban planning, slum architecture, GIS mapping, and housing and sanitation.

Making news

Pratima Joshi: “If our slums vanish, our cities will collapse.YourStory, February, 2015
9,000 public toilets, but stench and squalor keep women away. The Times of India; January, 2015
Non-profit wins $300,000 Google prize to make India's first open-defecation free city
thestar.com; January, 2014

Stories of Change

Madhuri Banerkar is a single mother, born with a heart condition that has only worsened with time. Two years ago she underwent a surgery to replace her heart valve, but in the last two months, it has become very difficult for her to leave her house.