A 3 month placement to help consolidate and analyse survey and mapping data for slum areas in the cities of Maharashtra. The data helps provide baseline information for development plans such as housing and sanitation plans. Shelter Associates works with slum dwellers to create holistic development plans, bridging the gap between slum dwellers and local government.

What work will I be doing?

The volunteer will learn how to use Geomedia to produce query outputs using data collected by SA social workers, and will work on the slum development plans using AutoCAD. It may be required to devise an indicator system to be used with city-wide plans. Final outputs will be compiled into a manual for existing staff and future volunteers.

Who will I be working for?

Shelter Associates is a NGO working in Pune, India comprising Architects, Social workers, GIS Experts and Community Workers. They work with the urban poor to facilitate and provide technical support to community-managed housing (slum rehabilitation) and infrastructure projects. Shelter Associates works in close partnership with Baandhani ('building together' in Marathi), which are collectives of poor men and women from informal settlements in Mahrashtrian cities.

Together their aims are to:

• Promote community participation in housing and infrastructure projects for the poor
• Promote and support community-led housing projects
• Promote and support community-managed settlement improvement projects
• Support the formation of savings and credit groups which work for poor women
• Create a database of poor settlements in Pune

One of the main obstacles to effective urban planning in India is a lack of up-to-date, comprehensive and sufficiently detailed information about urban areas. This lack of information is a major reason behind the failure of urban municipalities to include informal settlements (known as slums) in city-wide planning and urban development. To address this, Shelter Associates/Baandhani has been working over the last few years to develop the use of slum surveys and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for collating information about slums for inclusive urban planning. For more information http://www.shelter-associates.org/

What skills or experience do I need?

Required:

• Experience with AutoCAD or similar drawing software
• Report writing skills
• Engineer, Geographer or similar

Desired:

• Experience with MS Access
• Experience with GIS (in particular GeoMedia)