About the Organisation
Apnalaya is a secular NGO founded in 1973, committed to improving the quality of life of the urban poor. Working in slum communities surrounding the Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai where living conditions are appalling and there are no basic amenities, Apnalaya’s goal, since inception, is to help build self-sustaining communities.
Organisation Activities
Apnalaya takes a holistic view of the community and recognizes that the various issues affecting the lives of the poor are all inter connected. As healthcare, disability, education, citizenship & women's issues are all interrelated we believe that an integrated approach to community development will help achieve the greatest impact.. We carry out activities in each of these programme areas. In Education: 480 children are sponsored for mainstream education; 900 children in Crèches, Study classes; 400 children in recreation hubs. In Health: 900 women in Ante-natal & Gynaec care; 2500 through clinic/referral; 1000 children immunised (partnership with BMC); Nutrition intervention 3800 children. In Citizenship: Awareness campaigns, public hearings on housing, water, rationing, universal birth registrations,480 in rag-pickers association. In Disability: 193 disabled persons benefit from aids, surgeries, medical support, school sponsorship/admission, 124 assisted in documentation, community sensitized through campaigns. In Women’s Empowerment: 700 women reached through awareness programmes, 178 Apnapan (support group) and Sahara (community counselors) group members trained, 128 new cases of domestic violence etc. handled at the Family Counselling Centre, 495 women in self-help groups and trained.
Beneficiary Groups
The poorest families and communities in slums with special focus on women, children and persons with disabilities
Geographic focus
Communities barely surviving on the periphery of Deonar Dumping ground, Mumbai
History of the Organisation
Apnalaya was started by Tom Holland in 1972 as a Welfare Centre. Within three years, Apnalaya centres were opened in 4 other slums. Here, trainings, education and healthcare programmes were started.
The expansion into new locations was accompanied by a change in approach from welfare to a non-directive, participatory approach. Apnalaya decided to reach out to strengthen local leadership potential, and offer training, capacity building and support. Community-initiated Programmes were facilitated with the community's involvement in planning and implementation. New programmes were dynamically added. Following the communal riots in the Shivaji Nagar area in December 1992 and January 1993, Apnalaya expanded deeper into this sprawling area with a population of over 600,000, to Bainganwadi and the unauthorised communities around the dumping ground.
Apnalaya's goal is to enable these communities to become independent, and that has been achieved in the Tardeo, Malad and Mankhurd communities, all of which have undergone re-housing into SRA apartment blocks. Apnalaya has withdrawn from these areas, and focuses now on working with the deprived communities around the dumping ground in Shivaji Nagar, where the living conditions are appalling, lacking the most basic amenities. Many of the people living here are rag pickers or involved in recycling or work in small industrial units, and the incidence of child labour is high. Recently, a second shift has taken place in our approach to a more rights based focus to achieve our objectives.
Mission
Working with individuals, groups and communities, Apnalaya's mission is to empower the disadvantaged to overcome the many social, political and economic barriers they face, and to help them access opportunities that lead to a better quality of life.
Vision
Empowered urban poor communities, having awareness about their basic civic rights and responsibilities, and the capacities to exercise these rights and access the services integral to them.
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