Yes, it was a busy day!
A short drive and we were able to see another example of how Save the Children are helping to empower communities to help themselves.
In a community centre we were introduced to a group led by a man from an Indian NGO who had produced a map – the first holistic map – of the whole of their slum area, including all the vital infrastructure such as drains and standpipes etc. That in itself was quite something, but the really smart bit was that they have been able to use a specially designed app to take the data they have gathered to interface with the Delhi government systems. This means they can get quicker and more effective responses from the authorities when they have problems like broken drains or leaking pipes. All in service of improving their environment, and so improving child health. Great stuff!
So what was Save the Children’s role in this? They trained the man from the NGO, they developed the app, and they are helping with the interface to the authorities. And again, the government are looking to extend this new system to the other slum areas. Good work.
Here too the people we met were enthusiastic and welcoming. They teased us and played with us. And they talked positively about the improvements that they are seeing as well as about Save the Children’s role in them. It was great meeting them.
Now we’re moving on from Delhi with its urban projects. There are so many things from our few days here in the slum areas that were not what I was expecting. I hope I will find time later on to write a little more about that.
For now I’ll just say that the scale of the challenge here seems at first overwhelming, but we have seen that there are some simple things that can be done which have a big impact, and that’s where Save the Children are focussing.
Save the Children - India projects observed 