Saamuhika Shakti June Quarterly
Hello!
We are thrilled to have you join our community and share in our collective impact project’s quarterly newsletter.
In this edition, we bring to you some more stories, learnings and impactful visuals from the field and our work with Bengaluru’s waste pickers.
Happy reading,
Akshay Soni
Unstoppable: An evening with an all-woman Dream Team
On a rainy evening in May, we made our way into a quiet, leafy neighbourhood in Bengaluru. As we rode the elevator up four floors, we wondered how a manufacturing centre could be so quiet.
Turns out, a well-oiled machine runs smoothly, silently, and efficiently — a perfect metaphor for Social Alpha Techtonic winner Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions all-woman manufacturing team. Bengaluru-based Bare Necessities was founded by Sahar Mansoor in pursuit of a zero-waste living. The company recently employed Chitra, previously a waste sorter, who now contributes to production and packaging at Bare.
Here's a glimpse of an evening spent with the Bare Necessities team, as captured by our documentary photographer Vinod Sebastian.
Conversations from the field: Igniting little minds
“When I grow up, I want to become a teacher and help children like me study better!”
What inspires children to come to school? An enabling environment that is colourful, cheerful and fun!
In many low-income communities, including the waste-picking localities that Saamuhika Shakti partners work in, Anganwadi Centres often lack the resources to provide children with such learning environments.
Watch how partner Bal Raksha Bharat used an innovative approach called Building Learning Environment in Schools to transform Anganwadis across the city.
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Climate-pROOFing informal settlements: Roofs To Protect Against Climate Change & Rising Temperatures in Jyothipura
Communities living in informal urban settlements are most vulnerable to changes in climate patterns, living in homes that are not climate-resistant, which flood during heavy rains and get unbearably hot during heat-wave summers.
We highlight how cBalance, in collaboration with Saamuhika Shakti partner Hasiru Dala worked on helping residents in Jyothipura feel less hot during the summers. The vision is to co-create designs with the slum dwellers, and not just impose an expert’s ideas on them.
Hasiru Dala’s Akbar A and Kiran write about how they went about it, and what residents think of the solution a year on.
Gender inclusive circularity: Unpacking gender within Social Alpha’s architecture
Advancing toward the goals of inclusive, sustainable growth cannot take place without building a foundation for gender equity principles into the programs supported by Social Alpha. Rushali Shivprasad writes about how Social Alpha builds dialogues on inclusion and gender diversity and plays the long game with patient capital and support.
Collaborating for impact: How participatory planning will set the agenda for Saamuhika Shakti’s next phase
As Saamuhika Shakti enters its second phase in 2024, it is crucial to reassess what the waste-picker community needs from the project. To do this in an inclusive, representative manner, The/Nudge Institute — the backbone organization for the collective — has adopted a participatory planning approach. Saamuhika Shakti’s M&E lead Sanjay Kumar Paswan describes the process.