Slum kids map out their future

Early this week Preeti Prada National Head of Humara Bachpan Campaign found herself looking up at a flyover near the cityrsquos international airport It was nighttime and the flyover looked alluring with its twinkling yellow lights and fast cars Next to her stood a girl from a nearby slum ldquoShe said lsquoLook at the flyover didi Things look so beautiful up there but our place looks so dirty no Everyone will forget about us when we have to shift from here in six monthsrsquordquo remembers Prada ldquoIt was so depressing as I didnrsquot have an answer for herrdquo The good news is Prada and her team are in the middle of finding oneChildren mapped out community issues they face in Delhi and Bhubaneswar where the project successfulUrban issues mappedThe twoyearold Humara Bachpan Campaign works towards providing a healthy environment to children living in urban poverty It will kickstart the Mumbai chapter of its lsquochildled urban planning processrsquo titled lsquoTurning Dreams into Realityrsquo facilitated by a series of mapping exercises early next monthAs a part of the project children from across 15 slums in places such as Shanti Nagar in Mankhurd Jai Bhim Nagar in Powai Bhim Nagar and Ambedkar Nagar in Malad and Kranti Nagar in Kandivli among others will be encouraged to identify the major issues that they face in their community mdash such as housing water sanitation electricity lack of public spaces like playgrounds and safetyThey will then be taught to articulate their findings in the form of social maps complete with problem trees and solutions ldquoRoughly three months later once the maps are ready the children will meet with city planners and corporaters and explain their issues to themrdquo elaborates Prada adding that the whole idea was make the childrenrsquos aspirations practical ldquoUrban policies do not take into consideration childrenrsquos needsrdquo she addsThe main idea of the project spread across six cities such as Surat Bhubaneswar Vizag and Delhi is to empower these children to oversee their own neighbourhoodrsquos planning and groom them to become better leaders ldquoOne of our agendas is to merge their plans with the cityrsquos masterplanrdquo says PradaldquoWe ultimately aim to have around 350 child leaders meet Venkaiah Naidu the Union Minister of Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs and submit their charter of demandsrdquo she addsSafety a big issue The project comes to Mumbai after its successful implementation in cities such as Delhi and Bhubaneswar In Hyderabad for instance children from slums near the airport managed to get a play area for themselves and even convince the mayor to install police outposts and have police patrolling in the areaIn Mumbai however the team had to ldquorestrategiserdquo says Prada Explaining some of the challenges the team had to face in Mumbai she explains ldquoChildren in Mumbai are immune to their living conditions Not getting water or electricity is okay or normal to them Another issue was that they get evicted from their slums regularly so we donrsquot know whether their houses will still be there six months down the lineJust the other day I asked someone in a slum in Mankhurd whether he wants development in his area and he said he and his family will be there till they get evicted and then after that they will return to their village In cities like Delhi however we saw the community fighting for their space insisting that this is where they earn their livelihood So the basic challenge was to change that mindsetrdquoPrada also explains that a major issue that children face in Mumbai is the lack of safety ldquoImagine this There are only two streetlights for 530 households in a slum area so children feel unsafe while returning home after tuitions In fact during our programmes in Mumbai we have noticed that girls are more empowered than the boys as they are otherwise kept behind closed doors and feel suffocatedrdquoThe children meanwhile have already pledged their support and have promised to stay back during holidays in April and May to participate in the project ldquoThey are very excited about itrdquo laughs Prada