1. Understanding Poverty in the Context of the Urban
Realm
Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship
Sheela Patel
By Timothy Ong, Gavin Goh and Wee Yeong Xin

2. Introduction (Problem)
 The urban poor in India face two problems on two-
different levels, namely short-term and long-term
 On a short-term basis, there is a general lack of
infrastructure, housing and education for slum
dwellers, leaving them in a cycle of poverty.
 On a larger note, many in India and many other
nations simply do not feel the desire to legitimize
slum dwellers, making their predicament that much
worse

3. Introduction to Social
Entrepreneurship
 Sheela Patel is the founder of Mahila Milan, Shack
Dwellers International and the Society for the
Protection of Area Resource Centres
 Born in Mumbai, she felt that the Indian government
treated slum dwellers like “transient people” and thus
had little few land rights or say in the government
 Her social venture aims to provide more homes for the
urban poor in India and influence government policy
through her actions

4. Social Entrepreneurship
 Sheela Patel began working with slum communities in
1974. Through her face-to-face interactions with slum
communities, she came to realise that the social
welfare given by the government failed to bring about
long-lasting change for slum dwellers.
 In the late 1970s, she began to witness the “sanitized”
approach that local NGOs took to helping the urban
poor, namely by distancing themselves from the dirty
work in building more infrastructure and staying
away from politics. Sheela Patel saw it as putting the
interests of the institution above the interests of the
community they serve.

5. Founding of SPARC
 In 1984, Sheela Patel founded the Society for the
Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) as a
collective group and a voice for slum dwellers in India.
 Her first action was to conduct a survey of slum
dwellers to wave away myths about its nature. In
all, two-thirds of the slum dwellers relied on
minimum wage, and all of them had no assets and
very few rights.
 She was also a key figure in the founding of Mahila
Milan, a womens’ collective group bringing female
slum dwellers together to form a collective voice on
their concerns.

6. Involved in Politics
 Sheela Patel used SPARC as a negotiating platform for
property reforms, but the government gave scant
concern, giving slum dwellers only temporary aid. “In
15 days the municipality came and demolished their
houses”.
 At this point, Sheela Patel became highly critical of
the Indian government’s policies, leading many of her
colleagues to agree with her that they should cease
working with many other NGOs who were evidently
afraid of rocking political boats. However, Sheela
Patel felt that “working on real poverty should be a
political issue”.

7. Down-to-earth
 Alongside being an advocacy
group, Sheela Patel soon decided to
set up a branch responsible for
building more homes for the slum
dwellers in India as a non-profit
construction company.
 Under her leadership, SPARC has
constructed housing for over 8,500
families and built more than
500,000 latrines for 70 cities in
India.
 SPARC has established corporate
alliances with many financial
institutions that once shunned the
poor and even accepts many
government-based
contracts, despite her rocky
relationship with the state.

8. Recognition
 Sheela Patel has been awarded the 2009 David
Rockefeller Bringing Leadership Award and the 2000
UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award for her efforts in
alleviating the plight of the urban poor in India.

9. Beliefs
 To Sheela Patel, in order to work effectively with slums
one must accept as reality the fact that slums are
growing at a rapid rate.
 She believes in taking decisive action in charitable
work, including having to wrestle with the
government over political reform.
 She also believes in recognising slum dwellers as
legitimate people as an important step in helping
them progress.
 To her, many NGOs and other charitable
organizations “like to tell people that they are
working with the poorest people but stopped short of
taking it to its logical conclusion”.

10. References/Acknowledgements
 http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/SocialEntrepreneurs/Profiles/index.htm?sna
me=153555&sorganization=0&sarea=0&ssector=0&stype=0
 http://www.newint.org/columns/makingwaves/2007/03/01/sheela-patel/
 http://exceptional-lives.blogspot.com/2006/09/sparking-growth-meet-sheela-
patel_29.html
 www.nursing.upenn.edu/penn-icowhi/Sheela%20Patel_bio.doc
 http://theviewspaper.net
 spraguephoto.com
 bartlett.ucl.ac.uk
 sparcindialko.org
 flickr.com
 homeless-international.org
 achinect.com
 affordablehousinginstitue,org
 sdinet.org
 sajshirazi.blogspot.com
 synergos.org
 iisd.ca