Electricaid Project of the Month

Slumdog Sanitation - from Cork to Kolkata

The slums of India were well documented in last year's hit film Slumdog Millionaire. One unforgettable scene featured some incredibly crude sanitation arrangements!

India, a country with a population of over one billion people, has experienced rapid economic development in the last decade, but many millions of its people are being left behind, continuing to live a life of poverty and squalor. It has been estimated that about one-third of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) residents live in slums, some of which are more than 150 years old. The majority of Kolkata’s slum dwellers are living on between €7 and €26 a month and have a household of six persons. Such poverty is unimaginable to most people.

For the Hope Foundation this level of extreme poverty has been a reality and a motivator since it was founded in Cork in 1999. It has been committed to raising the standard of living of the poorest slum and street dwellers in Kolkata through the implementation of education, health, community development and water and sanitation programmes. It works in partnership with reputable and effective local organisations that share their ethos and commitment to improving lives.

ElectricAid received an application from the Hope Foundation in March last year outlining an ambitious three year project in partnership with local agency SPAN and Irish Aid. The project's primary focus was to improve the health of those below the poverty line in these slum communities through the provision monthof healthcare, improved health awareness and improved access to water and sanitation facilities. As part of this programme, Hope requested a grant of just €10,000 to provide enough medical supplies for 14,000 people, medical equipment, training kits and awareness programmes for the slum dwellers. With this incredible value for money and with the knowledge that The Hope Foundation already has a proven record of successful initiatives in the slums of Kolkata, the ElectricAid Committee approved its application for funds.

A year later, ElectricAid has received an excellent project report outlining how the money had benefited thousands of the slum dwellers including nearly 4,000 children many suffering from malnutrition and repertory problems. Not only has the health of thousands of people improved but their knowledge of and access to government health schemes and welfare programmes has enhanced due to the Hope Foundation’s advocacy and awareness programmes. Access to these (limited) government health and welfare schemes - which many did not even have knowledge of, provides the poorest of the poor with another chance in the daily lottery of their lives. This is a good example of advocacy working for the benefit of the poorest and most marginalised people in an unequal society.

After the success of this project, ElectricAid is now working with the Hope Foundation on another – this one is aimed at salvaging the lives of thousands of solvent-abusing street children living in Howrah Station, Kolkata.