Habitat for Humanity India| Contact information | HFH India
Ajay Mittal Industrial Estate
B-61, Building #1, 2nd Floor
Abdgeri Kurla Rd., Marol
Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 059
India
Phone: +91 2228509884
Fax: +91 2228500650
E-mail: habitatindia@hfhisa.net
| | Web site | www.habitatindia.in
|
 | |  | |
| |
India -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
AS A NEW AND VIBRANT INDIA TAKES ITS place as an economic powerhouse on the world stage, the challenge is to ensure that prosperity is properly shared.
About 300 million people remain below the poverty line, according to various official estimates. India is home to 22 percent of the world’s poor. The bulk of poverty exists in rural areas, where three-quarters of the poor live.
The quality of housing for low-income families varies greatly depending on region and location. A 2002 central government survey revealed that 21 percent of the rural population lived in katcha homes, structures made of mud, thatch, grass or other unprocessed natural materials. In urban areas, the poor can be found living under bridges, on pavements, train tracks, highways, canals as well as in crowded slums.
According to government statistics, between 2002 and 2007, India needed 22.4 million new homes, bringing the total shortage of adequate housing to some 50-60 million units.
Habitat for Humanity India began operations in 1983 in Khammam in Andhra Pradesh, and is now one of Habitat’s largest country programs. HFH India has assisted tens of thousands of families since its inception.
Given the immense need for decent housing, Habitat’s approach goes beyond just undertaking its own building programs. It also acts as a catalyst for improving housing conditions by offering Habitat’s support, expertise and experience to other groups and partners. Habitat’s direct and indirect work comes under the umbrella of IndiaBUILDS, a strategic initiative to serve 250,000 people with improved housing and related sanitation over five years, as well as mobilizing one million volunteers in the process and raising capital toward this goal.
HFH India operates through resource centers in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Habitat has an active disaster response program. Reconstruction efforts after the December 2004 tsunami built on earlier initiatives in Gujarat, where Habitat provided homes following an earthquake in 2001 and in Cuttack, Orissa, where communities were rebuilt in the aftermath of a super cyclone.
Habitat’s tsunami response involves assisting thousands of families directly and indirectly, often in partnership with other organizations. Habitat continues to help tsunami-affected families rebuild their lives and is constructing and repairing several hundred houses every month.
HFH India also responds when local communities are affected by annual monsoon rains. Habitat house designs and materials vary with climate and locale.
Typically, house designs range in size from 23 sq. m. to 33.5 sq. m. (240-360 sq. ft.) and comprise a living room, veranda, kitchen and toilet.
HFH India uses a Save & Build housing microfinance concept in order to reach more communities in need. Home partner families, usually working in groups and often led by women, save one-third of the cost of a house, with a non-governmental organization or corporate partner contributing one-third and Habitat investing the remaining one-third. In future, Habitat will inject funds proportionate to a group’s savings.
There is an active volunteer program involving locally-based students, and churches, as well as overseas and Indian businesses such as Citigroup, The Dow Chemical Company, ASK Group, Goldman Sachs, and Housing Development Finance Corporation.
HFH India hosts up to 30 international teams of volunteer builders a year from the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. In addition, hundreds of volunteers, mainly from locally-based companies, also build on Habitat sites each year.
Tsunami reconstruction using innovative construction delivery methodology has also led to new volunteering opportunities.
HABITAT HIGHLIGHTS
• In December 2008, HFH India celebrated a significant Asia-Pacific milestone – 25 years of building and repairing homes for the less fortunate in India and in Asia. The program, which began in Khammam, has since spread across the country and assisted some 125,000 people.
• Habitat ambassador and well-known Indian movie star John Abraham is the face of a fund-raising campaign to help build Habitat homes in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. In this first year of a three-year partnership, Dubai’s ETA Star Property Developers presented Habitat with a donation of more than US$500,000.
• In June 2008, Habitat signed a memorandum of understanding with ASK Group, for 1,200 houses to be built in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Habitat dedicated 100 homes to tribal families in Karjat in a May 2008 ceremony attended by members of the ASK board and 100 home owners.
• One hundred homes were built by more than 2,000 volunteers, including celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Steve Waugh and John Abraham, during the Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006. The five-day blitz build was held in Lonavala, near Mumbai. Families have since moved in and a Fujitsu-sponsored school building was inaugurated in April 2007.
• As of December 2008, Habitat’s tsunami reconstruction program had assisted more than 10,000 families with new houses, repairs and other support.
- A public service TV advertising campaign, featuring Indian movie star John Abraham, was aired on CNBC stations from June 2007. The “Join John’s Brigade” campaign called on people to contribute their time and resources, and aims to build Habitat’s brand in India.
- Habitat dedicated 78 homes for flood-affected families in Mahad in a May 2007 ceremony attended by Maharashtra state’s chief minister and Habitat celebrity volunteer, TV star Pooja Bedi, among others.
• In a partnership with Chetanalaya, a social development wing of the Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi, Habitat began in August 2006 to build 150 houses for former slum dwellers in Bawana resettlement colony, about 40km. from the capital Delhi. In February 2007, two solid Habitat houses in Bawana prevented a fire from burning down 600 temporary huts.
COUNTRY FACTS
Population: 1.15 billion (est. July 2008)
Capital: New Delhi
Area: 3,287,590 sq. km.
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
Languages: Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit.
Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, others 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Updated January 2009
|