सह कार्यम् फाउंडेशन
Sah Karyam Foundation
Co-Solve Collective's first enabled collective in India...
Sah Karyam Foundation is an Independent Social Enterprise registered as Section 8 company in India
Co-create Transformative Solutions
to Persistent Social and Ecological Problems
Shelters for Boiler Workers
Sah Karyam Foundation (SKF) and its partner Aajeevika Bureau Implementation in Ahmedabad
Breaking New Ground
Financially Sustainable — We movitvated the employer to pay 100% of the construction costs.
THE DESIGN MATTERS!
Though the labourers need better dwellings, if the employers provide any housing at all …the old tin-shacks has been the norm for half a century. Why this is sot? One word answer is “attitude”; the employers assume that “labourers are used to living like this, and many employers don’t provide anything at all”. The labourers, too have never been in a position for seeking better conditions. In other words, there is NEED for dignified housing, but no demand. We are aiming to change this.
One of our core principles is to design and develop shelters from the inputs of the labourers and other pertinent stakeholders (employer in this case).
The photos below show our journey AFTER we sought an agreement of one Textile employer - reluctant at first, but then an enthusiastic champion. He paid 100% of the cost of the shelters and added more funding for better features.
SKF hired architects for highly feature-packed shelters; the templates can be modified elsewhere.
The shelters have a dedicated space for childcare activities, common social area, dust barriers and garden….and more…
SKF’s Shelter Implementaton at Parth Textiles, Narol Industrial estate, Ahmedabad:
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
THEN TO NOW…..
Prior shelters of the boiler room workers and families. Such conditions are normal for thousands of families in such industrial estate. We are aiming to change this.
Six family units — safe, clean, ventilated, natural light
insulated, electricity, fan, children’s play area, common patio, fenced area, separate toilet and washroom block….On the factory premise, 100% of construction cost by the factory owner, SKF paid for the design, construction oversight, and on-going child-care programs.
Architects (CS4 Firm and SKF) at site visit during the construction phase.
SKF and our partner Aajeevika Bureau have implemented a five-day a week childcare program.
Insulated walls, Screened section of the roof, Bamboo mats for inner walls, foldable beds, storage space, fan...(rendered image)
Sanitation for Brick-kiln Workers
Sah Karyam Foundation (SKF) and its partner Atul Foundation Implementation in Valsad, South Gujarat
DEMONSTRATION MOTIVATES OTHERS!
When open defecation is the norm in this highly exploitative and low-wage labour sector, neither the labourers demand toilets and washing area, nor the employers have any motivation to provide these.
To motivate the employers to do the right thing is the most crucial first step. We move to design and development phase only when the employers are willing to pay and cooperate for the intervention, and the labourers are willing to take ownership of the intervention.
Only after gaining the agreements do we focus on design that meets various needs and constraints (land, geography, budget, etc.), structural and building industry best practices, and so on.
Heavy monsoon and high water table in South Gujarat requires extra design features of double pit latrine and a septic tank in order to not contaminate the ground water. SKF provided the toilet block design, the employer provided bricks and labor, our partner, Atul Foundation, provided engineering and construction funding through their CSR.
Soon the toilets will be ready for use. SKF intends to promote this in other kilns nearby.
Market-viable Temporary Shelters
Suitable for Construction Workers…currently implemented at one construction site. More sites are in the pipeline.
We have developed a few different shelter designs which are temporary and can be implemented anywhere the employer has workers working for short or long-term duration till their project on site is complete.
Our designs offer more functionality at same costs as current tin shacks used everywhere. Our shelters are affordable for the builders, contractors, and labor contractors. Our aim is to offer market-viable products that the employers can buy, lease, or rent.
See this short video
PROJECTS UNDERWAY…
Childcare Shelters at Worksites
These children deserve a safe space at their parents worksites. Babies can sleep, nursing mothers can nurse them. Children can play and learn. We are developing modular, affordable, removable childcare structures that can be put in place at safe places at their parents’ worksites.
Nutrition and Health
We are in the planning stage of cultivating skills and capacity of entrepreneurial women who can start and grow business of nutritional food for the migrant workers.
Mobile Groceries at Doorsteps
Far from markets , not having secure space to store their groceries, nor having the time and resources, the migrant workers spend a lot of their hard-earned money to buy small quantities and of poor quality. We are starting a cost-recovery basis mobile (erikshaw) grocery purchase and delivery service at their doorstep.
Sah Karyam Team
Sah Karyam Foundation (SKF) is a section 8 Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise registered in the Registrar of Companies Act in India. SKF is legally not connected to Co-Solve Collective (a 501-c-3 charitable organization of the USA).
Meet The Core Team
Sah Karyam Foundation
Sah Karyam Core Team
Community-Centered Architect and Project Manager
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Co-Founder & Advisor
Sah Karyam Foundation
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Co-Solve Collective USA
Arati is a co-founder of both, Co-Solve Collective (USA, 2021) and Sah Karyam Foundation (India, 2022). Co-Solve morphed out of the prior non-profit that Arati had co-founded in the USA in 2009 to create collectives for clean energy and water solutions. She was a co-founder of a clean energy tech start-up (2011-2018) for design and development of a commercially viable solar thermal concentrator technology.
Arati brings to Sah Karyam her multi- disciplinary background and experiences of team building in corporate and start-ups in the USA, as well as with NGOs, companies, and communities in India.
Learning about diverse fields from the practitioners, experts, communities is something that goes with the territory of collective-building. This also builds a network. Arati is currently taking a course from MIT titled Beyond Smart City Emerging Design and Technology. She is hopeful to expand Sah Karyam's connections with various Design and technology programs at MIT and elsewhere.
Music is another way that Arati engages with the global communities. Her solo concerts in the USA, India,, and France as well as her collaborative compositions of Indian classical and Western Choir (performed at Lehigh University and Princeton University) have drawn from the social and ecological themes and bringing musicians and audiences of the East and the West together.
Arati has a Ph.D. in Biophysics from MIT, USA, and a Sangeet Visharad diploma (vocal Indian classical music) from an all- India music institution. She lives in the USA but is active in CoSolve/ SKF projects in India.
Harshil is an architect, teacher and social organizer, all rolled into one. He has chosen to apply his training to serve the underprivileged communities from urban and rural areas. He owes a debt of gratitude to the society for all the support and mentorship he received from his family, teachers-professors, friends, employers and colleagues from all the work environments. It is a privilege that motivates him to pay it forward. Through gained and evolving architectural knowledge he creates create opportunities for underprivileged; creates supportive environments where people come, learn from each other and grow together. As a firm believer in multidisciplinary nature of his profession, he sees architectural service becoming more impactful through collaboration and not in isolation.
Besides volunteering with different NGOs like Manav-Sadhna trust to refurbish government school buildings, Harshil is busy helping VIKAS, another NGO, to develop coastal villages of Gujarat through programs in holistic education, health, empowerment and improving living conditions etc. He graduated from CEPT University in 2014. His connection with his alma mater didn’t end with it. Since 2019 he is teaching at CEPT, focusing on Co-production principles in the design studios.
Harshil is a consummate community organizer. As a lead member of SahKaryam, he is playing a pivotal role in our pilot projects in Narol and preliminary scoping activities for our project with GIFT City.
Shashi Enarth
Co-Founder & Board of Director
Sah Karyam Foundation
Co-Founder and Board of Director
Co-Solve Collective USA
Shashi Enarth is a co-founder and a board of director of CO-SOLVE COLLECTIVE (USA) as well as India's COSOLVE FOUNDATION (CSF).
Shashi comes to Sah Karyam Foundation with a mix of academic and professional experience. From 1986- 2000 he worked with three well-known NGOs in India (co-founding one of them).
Having been an international consultant to the World Bank projects in Nigeria, Tanzania and India and as the Graduate Program Director at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at University of British Columbia. Shashi brings to COSOLVE his decades-long understanding of the political economy of vulnerable communities, diagnosing systemic problems, situating it in the policy landscape and bringing together globally sourced best practices.
Shashi has a Ph.D. from University of British Columbia, Canada.
Sanjay Sharma
Co-Founder & Board of Director
Sah Karyam Foundation
Founder & CEO of Manjari Foundation
Sanjay Sharma is the founder Executive Director of Manjari Foundation based at Dholpur Rajasthan. Since its inception Manjari Foundation has grown to empower more than 100,000 rural women through various women enterprises in agriculture, livestock, food processing, and apparel product lines. www.katori.co.in, www.upaya.co.in ).
He also has vast experience of working with international development organization and oversees which included Cambodia, Kenya, Mali and Senegal.
Sanjay has professional experience and expertise include social mobilization, institution building, pro-poor livelihood value chain development, organizational development and advocacy and public policy formulation in rural development sector.
Sanjay is recently honored with Ashoka Foundation Fellow. He was also awarded International Ford Foundation Fellowship for the period of 2006-08 given his commitment to the cause of social justice, poverty eradication, and women empowerment, Sanjay Sharma brings to Co-Solve his significant experience and guidance.
Rajesh Jasoria
Co-Founder & Board of Director of Sah Karyam Foundation
A chartered civil engineer in Ahmedabad with passion for environmental and social equity and wellbeing aspects of the community, Rajesh Jasoria has stepped up to a challenge to create a Co-Solve Collective in Ahmedabad (India) for dignified shelters for migrant workers. Towards this, he brings his life-long experience, insights, and contacts in Ahmedabad's construction industry in order to navigate the "last mile" landscape that is invariably filled with obstacles as well as opportunities for shelters for migrant workers.
His career includes projects in residential and commercial building and infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Environmental Compliance, Golf Course, Media structural implementation, and so on. His community and social welfare projects include building of schools and community hall, Swatch Bharat Toilet constructions in two villages, as well as working with a USA non-profit group for advocating and building ramps and railings for physically challenged, and more.