India Project

Sui & Dhaga - Needle and Thread in the Slums: Income-Generating Activities for Women of the Shantytowns of Mumbai, India

Capital: New Delhi
Population: 1.186.000.000 (2008)
Population Density: 334/km² (2008)
Time Zone: UTC + 5.30
Religion: Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism, Buddhism, other minorities
Currency: rupia
GDP pro-capite: $820
Human Development Index: 128 (medium)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 63.3 (2008)
Form of Government: Federal Republic

CONTEXT

Mumbai, one of the megalopolises of the third millenium, has in recent years become the economic fulcrum of India - a symbol of its rapid growth and development that only benefits a small portion of its population. In fact, 60% of its inhabitants live in the city's shantytowns in extremely precarious conditions. Women are in particular objects of great risk and vulnerability.

Visiting the slums means meeting women capable of dreaming and hoping for a better future; women can become the new motor of development and of possible and necessary change on a global level. The Sui & Dhaga project (Needle and Thread) was born from an intense collaborative effect that IBO Italia has worked on for years with the Holy Family Hospital (HFM) of Bandra, particularly the Navjeet Community Health Center (NCHC), an NGO founded in 1978. In 2005, the first volunteers were sent to India with the aim of supporting the local staff in all of the activities that involve the women of the shantytowns.

OBJECTIVE

Sui & Dhaga is a development project that aims to improve the social-economic condition of women that live in the slums of Mumbai through the creation of income-generating activities, giving space to their technical and artistic abilities, their entrepreneurial spirit and their desire to stand out.

ACTIVITIES

Cutting and sewing courses; cut and design courses; self-management courses; literacy courses; production and sending of an annual order of bags/purses and jewelry for altraQualità.

BENEFICIARIES

The direct beneficiaries of the project are among the 10 to 20 women from the Bandra East and Bandra West shantytowns. As a result of their social-economic improvement, all of the families of the women involved and the communities they belong to in Bandra East and West are indirect beneficiaries.

ACTIVITIES IN 2009-2010

1. Sewing Course
In January and February, Geeta, one of the women, taught the other women of the group different models to use for the altraQualità order.
2. Production of Aprons for Sodexo
3. Third Order for altraQualità
Given the success of past orders, altraQualità requested another order that kept the women busy for two around two months (February and March). The women made different types of pencil cases, wallets, purses, bags and earrings.
4. Solidarity Favors
In the month of may, around 200 solidarity favors arrived in Italy from the project. In November and December, two new models that were to be proposed in the following years were studied.
5. Visit of a Representative from altraQualità.
David Cambioli's visit was another occasion for the women to become familiar with the Italian reality that markets their products and was an opportunity to discuss possible future plans.
6. Participation in the Mount Mary Festival of Bandra
7. Order of 3000 Cloth/Canvas Bags/Purses by an Initiative of the Township of Borgonovo Val Tidone (PC) of the Coop Eridana.
Starting at the end of the summer, the group was occupied with researching for new materials and with making cloth/canvas bags/purses that were to be distributed free to the families of the piacentino area with a perspective of environmental sustainability and international solidarity.
8. Training for the Personnel of Navjeet
In 2009, various training sessions were organized for the personnel of Navjeet.
9. Studies for New Activities
Throughout the year, IBO Italia, in collaboration with its local partner Navjeet, began to examine new possible opportunities to expand the range of the project's intervention.

See photos of the Sui&Dhaga project - Needle and Thread in the slums