Sheela Patel

Sheela Patel ( born 1952 in Mumbai) is an Indian activist for human rights.

Life

1972 to 1974, she studied social sciences at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Mumbai. After her studies she worked as a nanny in Nagpada Neighbourhood House, a community in central Mumbai. She sits heavily among other things for equality and social justice. In 1984 she founded the Society for the Promotion of Area Resources Centre ( SPARC).

In 1999 she also founded a company that supports the residents of slums like Dharavi in Mumbai in the construction of houses and infrastructure and represents their interests. Many people in India come from the countryside to the cities, because there they are hoping for a better life. The first point of the slums.

Since 2006, Patel employee of the World Health Organization (WHO). There she studied the social conditions of health. In the same year she took over the chairmanship of a campaign of the Indian Ministry of Urban Development assistance to improve sanitary conditions in urban areas.

"We are living [ ... ] in a strangely paradoxical world where we are obsessed with growth, the poor in mind but do not want to share. [ ... ] The new global economic order has clearly led to a terrible inequality and conspicuous consumption. [ ... ] WE believe that there are at the present stage of India's economic growth, numerous supporters of a just system, both in the state and in civil society. As long as this is the case, we can, given the aggressive market, which is at the forefront of development, from the state establishing a political system call that creates certain conditions for basic justice and the framework for the protection of human rights. "

The SPARC is one of the largest Indian NGOs today. The topics are mainly housing and infrastructure of the urban poor. Since 1984, the SPARC collaboration with two of is also community -based organizations, the National Slum Dwellers Federation ( NSDF ) and Mahila Milan. The NSDF was founded in 1974 by Jockim Arputham against the eviction of slum-dwellers in Mumbai in 2000 and represented the interests of slum dwellers in 21 Indian cities. Mahila Milan is a women's organization founded in 1985 that supports homeless women in Mumbai with small loans. Together they are active in some 70 Indian cities and have networks in 20 countries worldwide.

Publications

• From seed to tree: building organizational community in India's cities. In S. Walters and L. Manicom (ed.): Gender in popular education: Methods for empowerment. Zed Books, London 1996, pp. 89-98
• With Diana Mitlin: The work of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan. Human Settlements Programme, IIED, London, December 2001 ISBN 1-84369-021-7 (PDF file, 136 kB).
• How can poor people benefit from research results? In: Utilization of Research for Development Corporation. Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council, Publication 21, The Hague 2001, pp. 45-50 (PDF file; 425 kB)
• With Joel Bolnick and Diana Mitlin: Squatting on the global highway. Conference on Globalization North / South Social Movements and New social communities: North / South Globalisations. The International Sociological Association (ISA ), April 20, 2001 ( DOC file, 95 kB)
• With Diana Mitlin: Reinterpreting the rights based approach. A grassroots perspective on rights and development. Economic and Social Research Council, Global Poverty Research Group Working Paper Series, 2005 (PDF file, 305 kB)
• With Diana Mitlin: Re -interpreting the rights- based approach œ agrassroots perspective on rights and development. Global Poverty Research Group, June 2005 ( PDF file, 390 kB)
• With Shaaban Sheuya and Philippa Howden - Chapman: The Design of Housing and Shelter Programs: The Social and Environmental Determinants of Inequalities. In: Journal of Urban Health, Springer, New York. Vol 84, Suppl.1, 2007, pp. 98-108
• With Jockim Arputham: Plans for Dharavi: negotiating a reconciliation in between a state driven market redevelopment and resident 's aspirations. Environment and Urbanization, 2008 (PDF file, 117 kB)
• With Shaaban Sheuya and Philippa Howden - Chapman: The design of housing and shelter program. WHO Centre For Health Development, Thematic Paper 11, 2008 (PDF file)
• Recasting the Vision of megacities in the South. Emerging Challenges for the North - South Dialogue in Development, in: Robertson -von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): Europe: Insights from the Outside ( = cultural studies interdisciplinary / Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol 5 ), Baden -Baden 2011, pp. 133-142