Our Work
Since its inception in 2005, FSA’s education and fundraising efforts have funded toilets that have benefited over 475+ families. These families now have improved access to sanitation that helps reduce child mortality, diseases, and ensures environmental sustainability. We work to bring social change through these steps:
1. Forming Partnerships to Raise Funds
Our first step is to partner and mobilize different segments of the community that are sensitive to the issue of global poverty to raise funds.
Community mobilization
We reach out to those in the community who want to give back and positively change places they’ve come from. Our fundraisers have been successful as a result of strong participation from people that perceive Shelter Associates as a meaningful way of engaging with problems of urban poverty.
Educational communities
FSA draws strength from its collaboration with educational institutions. The FSA steering committee consists of volunteers from the local communities, staff, students, and faculty from Connecticut College and Brown University. The educational and fundraising missions of FSA are being supported by Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy at Connecticut College.
Partnering with For-Profit Companies
For-Profit Companies support FSA by matching funds contributed by their associates.
2. Finding Projects to fund
FSA partners with Shelter Associates to select funding projects and identify the most deserving recipients of your donation. We also fund those slum citizens who live in extreme poverty and are the most vulnerable members of society: the elderly with no savings, the handicapped with no means to earn an income, women suffering from AIDS, and those living in extreme poverty.
3. Tracking Beneficiaries
We are committed to providing transparency on how we use your donations. Dr. Sunil Bhatia has visited over 9 slum settlements, met beneficiary families, and inspected the toilets built with FSA funding. FSA also places student interns with Shelter Associates in India to conducting field surveys and recording beneficiary impacts. We also maintain a database of FSA funding recipients. Please visit our beneficiary page to see recipient photos.
FSA Update
FSA will fund 180 households for individual sanitation in Solapur. The local government has submitted a permit for installing drainage lines and construction is expected to begin in Fall, 2009. This will be the first pilot project in the city.
-July, 2009
Our Funding Locations
The work of Shelter Associates sanitation projects is primarily focused in the city of Pune, India and surrounding cities such as Sangli, Miraj and Solapur.
Pune (pop. 2.5 million) is situated near the western coast of India, approximately 120 miles southeast of Mumbai (Bombay). It is a prominent center of education with many universities, a thriving automotive manufacturing industry, and an emerging information technology sector.
Nearly 50% of Pune's population lives in informal and slum settlements. In some slums, the ratio of toilets to people is as high as 1:1400. The sanitation situation in slums is serious and negatively impacts individual and community health.
Shelter Associates and Baandhani (slum federations) aim to prevent the poor from being marginalized by incorporating them into urban planning and formal housing developments through community mobilization and partnership with local governments.