Rajendra Joshi—Saath

Shabhana Mayoudiin Kazi at the Godrej Smart Care Centre. She is employed after being trained at SAATH's Umeed Udaan. Photograph by Prashant Panjiar, courtesy of the American India Foundation

The Organization

Saath is enabling the urban poor to access the financial and livelihood opportunities available in globalized cities.

Based in Ahmedabad, Saath equips residents of poor urban settlements to become willing customers of basic services and access schemes for livelihoods. It aligns the urban poor, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and private companies in win-win partnerships. As a result, the government receives more taxes from the urban slums, the residents come away with better services and private companies report higher profit margins through services developed for the urban poor.

The Innovation

Saath is enabling the urban poor to access the financial and livelihood opportunities available in globalized cities. Based in Ahmedabad, Saath equips residents of poor urban settlements to become willing customers of basic services and access schemes for livelihoods. It aligns the urban poor, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and private companies in win-win partnerships. As a result, the government receives more taxes from the urban slums, the residents come away with better services and private companies report higher profit margins through services developed for the urban poor.

Saath works with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to ensure that slum residents receive basic sanitation, water and drainage services at the household level and paved roads and street lights at a community level. In exchange, Saath creates mechanisms through which the urban poor can save and pay the user charges. They also monitor the quality of government services with feedback loops. To build trust in the services being provided, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has guaranteed non-eviction to Saath slum residents.

Saath is also demonstrating models of public-private partnership where the urban poor are key stakeholders. For example, it tailored profit-based solutions for electricity supply in Ahmedabad’s slums by altering the user fee, increasing business volumes and bringing in government contribution. As a result, 200,000 slum households today pay for electricity with the business house, Torrent Power, reporting a 30% increase in profits.

The Urban Resource Centers (URCs) of SAATH serve as conduits for other service providers to reach the poor more efficiently. For example, companies like Tata AIG may want to connect to slum residents for financial security products or the government may need a centralized method of distributing voting cards. In the latter case, the government paid Saath INR 10 per voter card distributed. The URCs also have a steering committee with a station ward officer so the government and other important stakeholders have a vested interest.

SAATH runs inventive housing, health and education and micro-finance solutions to ensure integrated social security systems to slum dwellers. It has pioneered UMEED, an initiative that increases the employability of disadvantaged urban youth through trainings in service skills, English language proficiency, and lifeskills to manage wages and improve life. With an 80–85% placement rate, UMEED is now being linked to the JN Urban Renewal Mission and will be scaled to reach 100,000 young people across Gujarat.

Health awareness training and discussion at the Maninagar Centre Photograph courtesy Dr. Neeta Shah

The Impact

Saath serves some of the most marginalized groups in Ahmedabad. 85% of the stakeholders are Dalits, with the second largest group being Muslim slum dwellers. It has created access to basic services to 71,900 households and directly impacted 22,500 individuals. The transformative impact is clear. A new migrant visits the Urban Resource Centre of SAATH to determine where he or she may start looking for employment and shelter. The migrant can start learning employable skills through UMEED. Upon employment, the stakeholder purchases a small housing unit with electricity, running water, and sanitation for a smalluser fee. After collecting more earnings and microfinance loans, residents purchase upgraded lowincome housing structures, develop a savings mechanism or access capital for launching enterprises—all this outside of the net of exploitative money lenders. Thus, after a couple years of arrival, migrants or slum residents have the financial mobility to go where they please.

On a macro-level, the slum residents have an increased self-esteem and pride in their neighbourhood.

The Entrepreneur

"At Saath, we are creating opportunities to make our cities inclusive."
Rajendra Joshi

Rajendra Joshi initially started his professional life in the private sector. He went on to become an educationist in the slums of Ahmedabad and was influenced by a Jesuit priest Ramiro Erviti. In 1989, Rajendra created Saath. Initially, he organized youth as change agents and to gain their trust, did simple things like playing volleyball. He soon realized the needs for interventions around sanitation and in 1993, the Integrated Slum Development Program was created.

Rajendra operates with single-minded focus on accelerating impact for his stakeholders. He is always ready to drive change but takes a backseat when it comes to recognition to all partners and his team.