Clean toilets, affordable drinking water and laundry services are not commonly associated with a slum in Mumbai, However, an initiative by Hindustan Unilever is making this possible.
HUL has built a first-of-its-kind urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre - Suvidha. The first center was established in 2016 in Ghatkopar’s Azad Nagar (one of Mumbai’s largest slums).
On July 29, a similar centre (in partnership with HSBC) has been launched in Malad’s Malwani area.
Residents of the community now have access to clean drinking water, hygienic toilets and modern laundry facilities. All these services are available at a nominal cost to ensure that more and more people avail them.
When it comes to water usage, both centres have been designed with careful consideration of the environmental impact of water use. The design is based on a circular economy approach and uses innovative technology to recycle water from handwashing facilities & laundry to provide water for flushing toilets.
The Suvidha Centres reinforce HUL’s commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goals mapped by the United Nations.
The centres are built in close consultation with the local community, which is why it is so effective in addressing their problems. It has also helped generate livelihoods by involving the members of the community in the running, cleaning and managing of the day to day functioning of the centre.
In many ways, Suvidha has not only managed to improve living conditions, but also empowered slum residents.
In addition to the aforementioned facilities, the new centre at Malwani will also have a dry waste collection point which is created in partnership with UNDP. All the waste collected here will be sent for recycling. This centre will also integrate the Safai Saathis and their family members who live in the slums, and, in turn, enhance their livelihoods. It will benefit about 1100 households living in the slum.
Suvidha is a great initiative towards making slums clean, hygienic and habitable.
The best part is that it’s not only an affordable solution, but also one that can be easily replicated. Clean living conditions are closely linked to economic prosperity, and that’s where the real success of such an initiative lies.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)