SPARC

Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres

• Introduction

  The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) is one of the largest Indian NGOs working on housing and infrastructure issues for the urban poor. SPARC was set up in 1984 by a group of development professionals who believed that they needed to create new relationships with the urban poor. SPARC began work with the poorest of the poor in Mumbai’s pavement slums, where they formed a network of women’s collectives called Mahila Milan (“Women Together”). In 1986, SPARC and MM entered into a partnership with the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF), a broad-based organization of the urban poor founded in the mid-1970s. SPARC, NSDF and Mahila Milan are collectively known as the Alliance.
  NSDF federates urban poor communities living in informal settlements and mobilizes them to articulate demands, explore development strategies and negotiate with city authorities.
  Originally formed to fight evictions, NSDF has moved from a protest model to one that encourages poor people to see themselves as active partners in development.
  Mahila Milan is a decentralized, settlement-level network of poor women’s collectives that manage savings and credit activities, slum surveys and mapping, and housing and infrastructure projects. MM empowers women to become active leaders in community and urban development.
  SPARC provides professional support to its grassroots partners in order to build their capacity to play a proactive role in developing solutions to urban poverty and creates links between the CBOs and formal institutions and resources. SPARC is not a manager or welfare provider, but a platform and catalyst for a community-driven process. The ultimate aim of the Alliance is to produce urban and development practices and policies that are inclusive of the poor. Our mission is to build the capacity of organized communities of the urban poor, especially women, in informal settlements to stop forced evictions and develop the skills and confidence to negotiate with the government and other resource providers around issues of housing, land, basic infrastructure and their “right to the city.”

• City Data (2009)

  Population (persons)
  Area (km2)
  Number of Households
  GDP per Capita (US$)
  Climate
  Major Languages
  Major Industries

• Urban Issues and Projects

  Priority Concerns

  Main Projects and Contributions

  Technical Cooperation with Other Cities

  Cooperation Offered

  Cooperation Requested