The best Approach

Big things are being planned for the future. For many years now, Mumbai Smiles has been working with slum communities in select projects to do with health and education. But as we continue to grow, we also want to expand the scope of our work. So in the coming years, we plan to implement projects that take up the holistic development of a slum -- from education, healthcare, to employment and sustainabiltiy.
But starting work in a community is not easy, and we are clear that we want our projects to tackle what the community actually needs, rather than what we think it needs.

Helping us with this is Approach, a Pune-based social development consultancy. For the next few months, Approach is going to conduct extensive and intensive research in various slums in Marol (where our office is located) and nearby areas, to understand the needs of the community and help us strategise on what we can do to help. For instance, one slum may want more employment for its women while another could have a need for more balwadis (daycare centres). With the help of proper research, we can then tailor our projects to suit each slum.

 This is the first step of our slum development plan, and once the Approach team submits its reports later this year, we will have a clear picture on how we should proceed.