As we wrap up Phase 1 and plan for the next phase of our work, we asked ourselves what our collective footprint looks like.
And, who better to answer than the informal waste pickers we’ve worked with for four years!
Here, in their words, is a collection of Saamuhika Shakti footprints:
What the general population thinks of waste-picking and waste pickers, as well as how waste pickers themselves perceive their profession was one of our collective’s goals. This son’s recognition of waste work as important work, his pride in his father’s achievements and his aspiration to follow in his father’s footsteps are all testament to the agency waste pickers are gaining to speak about their profession.
Watch Mansoor’s son speak here.
Financial independence, a bank account in their names, access to their own money, skills to set up a small business, awareness about violence, self-help groups where women support women - all ways in which women in waste-picking communities reclaim their space and gain the agency to lead secure, dignified lives. This is just one of so many such stories women have shared with partners on the field.
Watch Sivakami’s speech and her sisterhood of success.
Giving waste pickers the opportunity and skills to shift out of waste picking — should they wish to — was one of the aims of the collective. Another equally important aim was to help waste pickers continue in waste management, scale up their work and earn more from waste.
Kumudha is an example of the latter - she set up and operates her own dry waste collection centre where plastics and textiles are sorted to be recycled. Her biggest goal is to enable more women to set up such centres.
Watch Kumudha speak about her dream here.
Helping and skilling waste pickers and sorters to segregate textile waste and send it forward for recycling means adding to their income by monetizing yet another waste stream. Waste pickers and sorters like Indumathi have worked hard to gain expertise in this waste stream too and are now working towards scaling up their operations and creating more jobs.
Learn about Indumathi's journey.
Imagine how much courage it must take for children to stand their ground and demand, in front of an audience of powerful adults, what is due to them! It all begins with the awareness about their rights, then hard work to build the confidence to articulate oneself, and finally, the ability to ask for what is needed. This is agency in action!
Watch Rithesh’s brave speech here and read about Swathi’s story here.
The absence of clean toilets in one’s home or at least close to it is denial of basic living rights. And women bear the brunt of this a lot more than men - having to deal not only with their own safety but also the mental pressures of the safety of their daughters and sons. In many communities where waste pickers live, access to toilets and clean water is a primary concern raised by the waste pickers themselves. Addressing this concern and enabling the community the agency to control and maintain their own toilets has been a game-changer.
Watch how clean, accessible toilets helped this community in Bengaluru.
Another start-up has helped three of its part-time waste picker employees move into full-time roles, and gain not only benefits such as health insurance and skilling, but also wider recognition of their valuable contribution to our environment.
Read Soni’s story here, and more about our work with social-impact start-ups here.
Watch Poornima's story here.
