Electricity in Dharavi: Problems, Stories, and Road to Solutions

Electricity in Dharavi

Problems, Stories, and a Road to Solutions

A re p Sok ort by o Katy na Dia North ea llo a Fo rsyt , Katie stern U h, E rin Z Wilhoit nivers ity’s , han g, & Joe Reil ly

Table of Contents Intro

Layers of Wires in Dharavi

Ecosystem Map

Electricity Adversities in Dharavi

Recommendations for Government

Moving Forward: Conclusion

Engaging the Community

Case Study: Kenya

this collage is a series of pictures following electrical wires from one BEST box in Dharavi

Intro Dharavi is a community built on pure willpower. Located at the center of prime Mumbai real estate, the one sqaure mile town is home to one million Indian from a diversity of background. These residents and laborer contributes at least 500 million USD to the formal economy, and much more in informal exchanges. As a recycling, industrial and cultural hub Dharavi is invaluable, but often ignored by the government officials of the city that would hardly exist without it.

The Dharavi Project, an offshoot of the Acorn Foundation, aims to improve all aspects of the lives of rag pickers in Dharavi. Throughout one week in June 2017, our team focused specifically on how accessibility and affordability of electricity has a negative impact on the lives of residents in Dharavi, and possibilities for change energy access.

Our original intent was to draft a proposal for the government, outlining reasons why it would be beneficial for them to address barriers in electrical access for residents in Dharavi. However, during the course of our research we found that the Dharavi community electricity access represented only a portion of the community’s concern. Though the subject was not widely discussed, we did find several organic community missions which aimed to improve safety surrounding electricity. With these findings in mind we concluded that large scale change would not happen without the support and insistence of the community. The following report outlines our research, arguments, and suggestions for government intervention, and most importantly plans for how to support and expand existing community solutions while leveraging the community’s capacity for self-advocacy .

Throughout our Community Needs Assessment, we spoke to over 20 individuals through a dozen one on one interviews and one community workshop. These individuals range from 16 to 53 years old and their residency in Dharavi varied from 3- 30 years. The majority of the participants were women. This group is the most directly affected by residential access to electricity, followed closely by children. Men typically work outside of the household, so access to electricity does not greatly affect their productivity. That being said, we found that most women were first and foremost concerned with household expenses, then education expenses, and thirdly, access and cost of electricity. Community members also identified sanitation and girls’ safety as large concerns.

What follows will focus primarily on energy access and barriers, and how this affects other parts of residents’ lives.

The Layers of Wires in Dharavi

Ecosystem around Electricity in Dharavi pickpockets

injuries/ death

electricial shocks

fires and explosions

broken hanging cables

mosquitoes and flies

low capacity transformer

flooding

Outages

monsoon

presence of gangs

female safety

overheating/ health complications

Health/ Safety

Dharavi Residents

Maintenance/ repair

Environmental high electricity usage

Distance prohibits reporting problems

Slow response time

fees costly

summer

Loss of Income

Cost

poor infrastructure

Illegal wiring is cheaper

electricity theft

Lack of Accountability

broken

Extra meters/wires expenses for paying families

Obstacles to Electricity access

illegal wires cost transfers to residents remain

officers profits

Bribery Culture

electricity theft

Businesses pressured to lower prices

Lack of Resources

Profit Lossfactories not paying bills

government buys electricity

Electricity Providers

Political Factors

increases electricity rates

Government Officials

During the research time-line, we conducted field observations, qualitative interviews and a community workshop with Dharavi residents. With these methodologies, the research team collected rich and valuable data around Residents’ lived experience and gained deeper insights across the energy access and infrastructure value chain. In an attempt to identify key adversities faced by Dharavi residents, the subsequent data from the interviews and community meeting were coded and analyzed (focusing on emerging themes such as availability, accessibility, affordability, and reliability). These findings provided the empirical basis for dividing the identified adversaries into two classifications: systematic and physical barriers to energy access.

Electricity Adversities in Dharavi How does electricity affect residents in Dharavi?

Systemic Barriers Lack of a uniform process Economic Electrical Theft Transparency and lack of Accountability

Physical and Architectural barriers Unreliable grids and poor infrastructure Safety

Systemic Barriers This report defines systematic barriers as patterns of behaviors, policies, practices or procedures that result in some people receiving unequal access or being excluded from energy access.

Electrical Theft In many instances, cost and lack of proper service have contributed to the criminal practice of stealing electrical power. All the community members profiled spoke of the high prevalence of electricity theft. Rather than paying roughly 400 Rs to companies, some community members and factories owners prefer to pay a fraction of this sum to informal agents and middle men to connect them to the energy grid. This however does not comes without its challenges.

Dependence on middle men increases the vulnerability of slum dwellers exploitation, such as the risk of being charged a higher fees for simple maintenance. Electricity theft can take place through a number of means and ways. The slums’ electrical supply is generated at various power stations, which are generally located at distances from the residents and factories in the area.

Some people run wires directly from power lines on the street into their homes. Others tamper with the electric meters. Beyond being a major contributor to long periods of power outages and further causing a breakdown in service provision, power theft also puts an extra burden on victims. 22% of participating profiled in this report complained that their monthly electricity billed chronically differed from consumption of electricity due to someone else tapping in on their line.

Economic Over the years, electricity prices have increased disproportionately to wage increases in Dharavi. In an area where a majority of populations live below the poverty line, many families struggle to pay the same rate as other residents Mumbai. Roughly 66% of the community members consulted mentioned cost as a barrier to equitable electricity access. On average their household energy bill accounted for 20-35% of household monthly expenditures. This does not include other additional hidden cost such as the price for a meter, wires, maintenance fees, and bribes.

Lack of a uniform process Currently there is not a complete institutional framework to support Dharavi residents in financing and connecting to electricity. As business providers, electricity companies bear the full responsibility of ensuring their customers have adequate and safe connections. Nevertheless, a key challenge identified by community members is the lack of support beyond the metering installation. Once residents have acquired a meter from the electrical companies, they are left with the burden of connecting their wires to the main power supplies in the area. As part of this process residents must identity an electrical contractor or somebody within the community capable of performing this task. In addition to this challenge, community members must procure their own wires for the connection. Various barriers such as cost and lack of awareness(information, or poor access to information), lead people to purchase unsuitable wires for the connection. If used with the wrong equipment, such wires are prone to short circuiting, melting and burning. This combination of formal and informal connection networks has fragmented the installation system.

Transparency and lack of Accountability Dharavi poor electrical infrastructure requires constant maintenance. However, the numerous players involved in the formal and informal framework to support electricity access, have contributed to a chronic culture of “it’s not my problem”. All community complaints are directed to a phone number at the power supplier’s office. Once complaints are logged, residents must await several hours for the arrival of maintenance personnel. In areas, where power companies suspect a lot of theft, residents are ignored or told to contact the informal network that helped them connect to the electricity grid. In the end, it is common for residents to be forced to pay “off the book fee” or bribes to fix problems related to broken cables, transformer breakdown, and weak connections.

Physical and Architectural barriers This report defines physical and architectural barriers as physical and environmental obstacles that make it difficult for residents to have safe and reliable electrical access:

Unreliable grids and Poor Infrastructure The lethal tangle of electrical wires, broken electrical line, voltage fluctuation, and antiquated and inadequate transmission equipment have contributed to an unreliable electrical service.

Poor maintenance contribute to chronic power outages. Residents in Dharavi reported outages every 2-3 days for several hours. The severity of these outages unusually increase during Monsoon and summer season.

Safety The web of exposed electrical cords, dangling wires, broken transformer are a looming environmental and safety threat. Fire, blast, and transformer sparks are a frequent occurrence. All the community members profiled knew of somebody who has sustained some type of injury from exposed faulty electrical lines or fire. Many of these situations are underreported or not resolved in a timely fashion

IMPACT ASSESSMENT Our finding indicates that many households in Dharavi do not have access to safe and reliable electricity. Among the most vulnerable populations and sectors are:

Woman Women in slums are more vulnerable to the impact

Lastly, light provides safety. Dharavi, like most slums,

of energy poverty than men. In Dharavi, a majority of

relies on public toilets scattered throughout the

men are employed in the industrial section the city,

community. Many of the women profiled reported

the area with the most reliable energy connection.

feeling unsafe and concern about access to public

Meanwhile, a large portion of women in Dharavi

toilets during the evening and night out of fear of being

operate informal business inside their homes.

harassed or assaulted. Additionally, darkness usually

Frequent power outages and unreliable electricity

facilitate crimes. An increase in electricity access is part

connection prevent these women from fully

of the web of solution needed to decrease the rate of

participating in the economy. We profiled several

sexual violence and make women more comfortable in

women in Dharavi who work as seamstresses. Their

their environment.

livelihood is reliant on the one sewing machine they own. A day of power outages often means a day of lost wages.

Residential areas are the most impacted by power outage. Because women are usually responsible for household duties and chores, they tend to be present during the household power outages. In circumstance of power outage, these women must improvise their own solutions to be able to carry out household and childrearing duties.

Children All Children have the right to play in safe environment. Of the 5 injury incidents we heard, three of them were children. Parents are often left with the responsibility of ensuring their children’s safety around electrical cables. The families profiled expressed great fear over children’s safety, particularly in regards to the low hanging

Elderly and the Sick A few participants identified high temperatures as threats to older and sick family members during the summer time. During prolonged outages, family members are forced to take love one to hospitals for adequate care.

maze of wire.

Local Small Businesses Some parents find a way to hang cables out of reach, others frequently advise their children

Energy poverty decreases productivity and

against playing near certain areas. Beyond

forces business to invest in backup

safety, lack of adequate electricity impact

generators which starts at an upward of

children’s ability to study and learn, inhibiting

225,000 Rs. Chronic power outages, and

childhood educational development. During

voltage unpredictability halt production,

power outages, children study by

damages machines, or change the quality of

candle or kerosene lamp light, the low light

the final good produced.

environment often reduces student capacity to focus.

Part of problem solving is putting the voices of the people impacted at the forefront. The voices of a community are not only the experts of what is going on but often are already providing solutions on their own or have ideas to address the issue. The community and voices of people, when elevated, will inevitably lead to change. This section highlights some ideas from the community and also provides methods to engage them further.

ENGAGING THE C O MM UNITY

Why do communities matter?

Salient Solutions

Residents in Dharavi have already taken initiative to solve some of the problems around electricity. They know the problems best because they are impacted daily by loose wires and high electricity costs. By supporting current initiatives and building on them to increase the long-term sustainability, we can have a greater impact.

Community Voices

By synthesizing what we heard from residents in Dharavi, we were able to understand the main problems facing the community when it comes to electricity. We believe providing a platform for community input can be influential in expanding stakeholder understanding of the issue and empathy for the people affected.

Salient Solutions What is the community doing and how can we build on-top of it to make it more sustainable?

Tarps

Boxes

Economic Development

Tarps While in the field we heard of a group of woman coming together to protect children from the loose electricity wires by pooling their money and buying tarps to cover them.

Possibility for Impact By covering low-hanging and hazardous wires in dense areas where children play or walk, the likelihood of electrical shocks decrease.

Limitations of the Current Initiative “It’s our job and we have no choice because no one else is coming......so we take money and do it ourselves” -Heena

Resource Support There is also no outside support. The woman are problem solving on their own

Lack of Scaling

Right now the current tarp initiative is a group of woman going to the main

buildings and covering the wires. They cannot go to all the houses

because there are too many.

How might we support the tarp initiative to keep children safer?

Outreach to this group of women and the formation of a community group that would continue to address electrical safety is a first step. These women are obviously motivated to make change; it is likely with more organization and resources they will be able to enact significant change. In the process, they could become community advocate and help address numerous issues surrounding electricity in Dharavi.

Boxes Electrical boxes are ubiquitous in Dharavi from the red BEST boxes to wooden boxes.

From our interviews we’ve heard many stories of children getting electrocuted from unsafe boxes and people who are working to make them safer Possibility for Impact Often times electrical boxes are left unsecured and with the doors unlocked. The reason behind the construction and locking of these boxes is due to the number of cases of children being electrocuted around electricity equipments.

Limitation of Current Initiative

Organization Throughout our interviews we have been unable to confirm whether or not the securitization of electrical boxes is something being done by a group or simply by specific individuals who lives in proximity to the electrical boxes.

Procedure Establishing an easy to follow procedure to secure the electrical boxes is crucial to success.

How Might We Support this Initiative Creating a community group of individuals to secure these boxes is one method of addressing this issue. It is also possible that the task of safeguarding electrical boxes could be a task extended to the women who have been installing tarps.

Economic Development What would new jobs around electrical safety look like?

Both the tarp and security box initiatives show an opportunity in Dharavi for a new industry around electrical safety. Women are already pooling money to install tarps.

These actions shows people willingness to pay for initiatives which help keep their children safe from electricity related hazards.

What if we could formalize jobs for the woman already running these initiatives?

What if putting locks on electrical meters, installing safety tarps, and maintaining them was a job?

What if each neighborhood could pool money to provide income for woman safety-proofing their neighborhoods?

Community Voices How can we engage the community in future decisions?

Community Workshop

Narratives

Community Workshop What is a workshop?

A workshop brings people in a community together to discuss the biggest problems they see in their community. It also provides a way to engage in creative conversation to spark new ideas about addressing these problems.

Setting up a workshop When running a workshop the main goal is to make people feel comfortable to provide an environment for them to be honest and candid.

One way for people to feel comfortable is creating drawing activities. It also helps people visually think through their ideas.

Over communicating why they are there and what will happen after the workshop is critical.

Example Activities from a Workshop: UNDERSTANDING PROBLEMS IN DHARAVI

DRAWING

Create a table on a large piece of paper with

four boxes (Love, Dislike, Safe, Unsafe) and

ask people to talk about examples under each

box. Have someone write what is said down on

the table.

QUESTIONS

How does your sense of safety change from

day to night?

What would make you feel safer?

For those that have lived in Dharavi for a long

time. How has it hanged over the years? If it

were to keep improving, what would that look

like to you.

Narratives

The Cost of Electricity This is Nilofarkhan.

She has 15 people in her family.

And is 27 years old.

Electricity Bill: 7,000 INR Household Budget: 25,000 INR

“Electricity costs should be 5% of the household budget or less. Above 10% is absurd�

-Dr. Rao

28% of household budget goes to pay for electricity

What does this get her?

For only having a TV, one light, fan & fridge in her house: -outages -blackouts (daily 2-3 hours) -less income from sewing

Power outages not only cut down the amount of work she is able to do every day, but are also a health hazard for her mother in law, who suffers from heart problems. When the electricity goes out, it is more difficult to monitor her blood pressure, and they sometimes are forced to hospitalize her as a health precaution. Her neighbor, who had a stomach problem, died because of complications as a result of a power outage.

About three and a half months ago, there was a three year old child playing outside with a wind up chick. As the chick wandered into an electricity box, the kid toddled after it.

He was shocked so badly in the process, that he ended up hospitalized.

Because of horror stories like this one, Nilofarkhan and a few other women in neighboring communities came together to install cases around the electricity boxes. Each of these women holds onto the key for the lock for these boxes, to make sure that no one else accidentally gets hurt. These are the same women that go to the government to complain about problems with the electricity, which she says is much more effective than when the men try to fix a problem.

Many women in the area run businesses from their homes, like Nilofarkhan, and are much more affected by the power outages than the men, who typically work outside of the home.

If the price of electricity was decreased or subsidized, Nilofarkhan would experience fewer losses in her business, would be able to save for her son’s education, and would relieve some of the burden that comes with the medical expenses for her sick mother in law.

Nilofarkhan is excited for the development plans and prospects of secure housing for residents in Dharavi. She says that the roads are poorly constructed and that flooding is a common concern, and is very concerned with the price of education, which many people have to take out loans to cover.

Heena would like to see electricity prices become more affordable, which would give her family a chance to save and to send her children to private schools, which provide a better education and learning environment than the government schools.

She hopes that the gutters can be improved, and that the government could provide more support for electrical installation.

Henna Heena has two sons, ages 13 and 11. Her top expenditures include school fees, rent, food, and electricity. Monthly she pays over 400 Rs for her electricity bills.

Still, she says that electricity goes out every two days for about five to six hours.

This outages increases during monsoon season. For almost three months there is no light because it goes out every day.

Electricity theft is another issue that she addressed, which she blames mainly on commercial factories that siphon electricity through illegal wires from resident’s meter boxes. The cost of this stolen electricity falls to the residents, creating an undue burden that should fall to the more profitable companies. She says that almost every household is affected by electricity theft. According to Heena and our translator, a meter box costs 7,000 INR. They say that the reason why the government doesn’t set up wires is because there are too many houses, and it is too crowded. This leaves individuals responsible for setting up the wires. With the knowledge so dispersed, this leaves the system susceptible to theft, creating a negative feedback loop. Like factories, individuals also participate in electricity theft. Henna attributes these illegal connect to high cost. In the end, legally paying families are the most hurt. When people legally paying for energy need help from the government or energy personal they are reluctant to help because of the hight incidences of theft.

Heena also shared with us the story of a child who died from an electrical shock when he accidentally touched a wire connected to the train track. Additionally, earlier this year, there were two blasts because of sparks from the electrical wires. Once, several rooms caught on fire and left five people dead. Because of these safety concerns, she and a few other women in the community pooled their money together to buy large tarps to cover the wires, so that their children don’t accidentally get hurt by them. Still, loose wires fall into the water during the rainy season. When the power goes out and fans stop working, mosquitoes carrying diseases become more prevalent inside homes. Around the neighborhood, gutters without covers attract more mosquitoes and have a terrible smell.

When speaking about electricity safety in her neighborhood and not wanted to burden her neighbors by talking about it:

“If no one else is concerned, then why should we concern them?

They have their own problems.�

- Reshma

Recommendations For

GO V ERN MENT

Subsidizing electricity

Government ownership

Engaging community in future decisions

Subsidizing electricity What is a subsidy?

A subsidy is when the government sets the price for a good or service below the actual market price. An industry is asked by the government to set their product at a certain price for those that are eligible for the subsidy. The loss incurred by the industry is compensated by the Government. The purpose of government subsidies is to make an item more affordable for targeted groups ex. Individuals below the poverty line.

An electricity subsidy eligible to households under the poverty line would be an important tool for those in Dharavi. The cost of living in Dharavi has rapidly increased over the years. Easing this burden will allow families to improve the quality of their lives and the community at whole.

Challenges of subsidies in the past have been ensuring that they are actually benefiting the groups targeted by the subsidy. Delhi has an electrical subsidy that has faced the issue of benefiting the middle class more than the poor.

This issue is the result of poorly written subsidy rules. The subsidy is awarded based on consumption. There is a limit of 400 units of consumption to be eligible for this subsidy. Mid-level consumers of energy (the middle class) benefit more on a percent basis than the lowest consumers (the poor). The lowest tier receives less than a 33 percent net billing subsidy, while those using slightly less than the limit receive a 40 percent subsidy. Those that consume less energy do not get the savings that those who consumer slightly below the limit receive. The simple fix to this issue would be to lower the energy consumption limit from 400 units to 300. This would result in an increased savings for the poor. This example illustrates the importance for the government to work with the community to understand their energy needs and insure that government involvement leads to the desired impact.

The Impact of Subsidies in Dharavi The participants of our workshop were very receptive to the idea of an electrical subsidy. Conducting an activity about their biggest issues in Dharavi electricity prices was amongst the most crucial to them. In an activity we drew a an individuals who made 5,000 rupees a month, a family who makes 5,000 a month, and someone who makes a 1,000,000 rupees a month. The group immediately mentioned how the burden is highest on the family who has the least money to go around and will consume the most electricity. They believed that they should pay less because they bear the greatest burden. Many of the families in Dharavi bear this great burden. That is why a subsidy should be implemented. If it were to be implemented it would mean a lower cost of living thus giving families the opportunity to give a better education for their children, have more spending money to contribute to the local economy, and increase their standard of living.

Government ownership Walking through Dharavi it is hard not to notice the canopy of wires that block out the sun.

Cut wires dangle from the tangled masses just above the heads of residents. These wires were purchased by the households or factories trying to access electricity. Those who can barely afford the meter box in turn are then forced to buy cheap wires that are unsafe and unreliable. These problems and other not mentioned were complaints brought to BEST by the community. But, the complaints are often ignored or fall through the referral loops as employees feel they are unequipped to deal with the situation. A potential room for intervention is for the government and electricity providers to take action by installing the wires, owning them, and taking responsibility for fixing the them.

Within the community of Dharavi there are people who will install the wires for a fee. This group of individuals should be formalized into a community group that works with the government. Government ownership of community issues cam be addressed by employing and training the community group. Through this community group the government would be able to enact measures to increase the safety of wires, remove unused connections, and regulate new connections. Some of the immediate issues to focus on is guaranteeing that all electrical boxes are covered, removing cut wires, and moving cables higher so that they do not pose a risk to children.

Energy Provider Mediator In Dharavi, there is a heightened sense that energy providers are indifferent to community problem around electrical access. Beyond improving the electrical infrastructure within the community. these women can also play central role in reducing the communication gap between the communities and energy providers. The fragmented and sometime one-sided communication between electricity providers and consumer has fractured the relationship and trust between the Dharavi community and energy providers. There have been numerous reported instances of maintenance personal being threatened or injured by frustrated members of the community. Having a community member in the role of community liaison might decrease the hostility between maintenance personnel and the community.

Case Study

K e n y a:

Power Slum Electrification Programs

“Our program started in Kibera, but for a long time we were stuck,” said Dr. Ben Chumo, Managing Director, and CEO of Kenya Power. “We would go into Kibera, and we would sense resistance. Eventually, we established the reason for this resistance: lack of involvement of the community there.”

Kenya is home to one the largest urban poor area in the world, with approximately 3.4 million people living in informal settlements scattered throughout 6% of the land in Nairobi. The biggest of this slums is Kibera. As of 2009, the population in this slum surpassed 500,000. Like many urban slums, Slum dwellers in Kibera are facing major challenges such adequate housing, overcrowding, water supply and drainage, pollution, sanitation, and power outages.

Acknowledging that modern energy access plays in key role in improving the lives of urban poor, the Kenya government have made supply informal settlement electricity one of its key development goals. The nation’s’ successful Kenya Power Slum Electrification Programs became a strong case study for how to bring power to the urban poor. The success of this model is attributed to the in-depth community-based approached used by the utility company to tackle electricity connection. Rather than focusing all their energy on disconnecting the illegal connection, the company focused on listening to community voices and an awareness raising campaign on the benefits of the legal connections – safety, reliability, and affordability. Using well-established community organization and program such as Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project(KISIP), it then identified key areas where this new approach will have the strongest impact. To scale up the program, the utility company worked to secure external funding from the World Bank. This grant subsidized the cost of new legal connections.

Kibera Customers paid a rate of 1,165 Kenyan Shillings, 12 USD, for a new connection, as compared to 150 USD for regular customers. For the first time, paying for legal connection became less expensive than buying from the middlemen. The last key part of the scheme was subsidizing energy based on income. A pay-as-you-can model was established to support Kibera residents with the financial burden of electricity. Residents purchased pre-paid chits, available at any corner store, and paid for electricity in small increments. Payments were made from the comfort of them home using a pre-installed digital keypad that gave residents the power to track their energy consumption. The new market for chits created an opportunity for former electricity thief to become part of the legal business of selling power. In the span of one year (2014-2015), the national utility company, Kenya Power, in partnership with the World Bank, scaled up electric connection in Kibera by a 30-fold increase. Kibera went from 5,000 legal electricity to 150,000. The strength of the community base model reshaped the nation’s understanding of equitable electricity access and is currently being implemented in another part of Kenya.

Successfully addressing the energy poverty in Dharavi will require drastically enhancing policies and national programs. But has Kibera shows, this is possible. There are multiple parallels between Dharavi’s and electricity access in Kibera. Like Dharavi, there was an energy shortage in Kibera. Additionally, a large portion of the small established connections was illegal. These illegal connections decrease reliable and safe electricity access and burdened residents who are victims of thefts. It also impacted the revenue of the utility company and put an extra stress on an already thigh budget. The combined poor infrastructure, minimal funding for maintenance, and reliable access undermines the community’s well being and economic development.

Moving Forward

Through our research we identified five main stakeholders as residents, commercial industry,

electricity providers, government and illegal energy tappers. NGO’s like Acorn Foundation rest just on the periphery, and can play a crucial role in community building and awareness. Defining stakeholders was imperative in narrowing our scope of work, and organizing the plethora of information that we gathered in the first few days of this project.

Given the many struggles faced by Dharavi, the prevailing attitude among many residents is that the

community does not have the capacity to fully tackle the issue of energy poverty and access. Despite this challenge, groups have formed within the community to tackle smaller scale problems related to energy access.

Heena and some women in her neighborhood each pooled 200 INR to purchase blue tarps to separate dangerous wires from the places where their children play. Nilofarkhan and two other women worked to install locked cases around electrical boxes, and hold onto the keys so that they do not have to worry about children getting caught up and shocked by the wires.

These small examples of community organizing point to a future for the Dharavi Project - one where

it is able to harness the resilience and ingenuity of residents, so that they can develop their own voice and unique method of self-advocacy. A simple solution that several community members suggested is to simply hang the wires at or above roof level. We contend that the most crucial role that the Dharavi Project and Acorn Foundation can play at this point in time is to create a space and a platform to bolster these preexisting structures in the community.

In addition to community organizations, the municipal government and private energy companies

play a crucial role in long term human development in Dharavi. Without a crackdown on the current bribery system, crooked electricity officials will continue to reward illegal energy tappers, while hurting customers that pay their employer for energy access. In addition, companies like BEST could utilize the skill already present in Dharavi by forming alliances with unofficial electricians, who do much of the wire connections for residents in Dharavi. By formalizing the process and prices, BEST could build a stronger, more trusting relationship between the company and their customers by providing more reliable and immediate service, as well as employment opportunities in the communities they serve. Lastly, because most residents only turn to illegal energy supply as a way to bypass high fees from electricity suppliers, a government subsidy could make legal electricity more accessible for more people in low income communities, diverting funds from energy thieves and back to energy companies, many of which have been facing deficits for years.

Making electricity safer and more affordable has long term impacts in low income areas, both

rural and urban. In addition to avoiding human casualties, reducing expenses of health and safety risks associated with outages decrease the economic burden on families. Keeping in mind that these families are the laborers who carry Mumbai, and many global industries, on their backs. From designer leather bags, to cleaning up recyclables on the streets, to providing low cost labor across myriad industries, simple changes in energy access not only increases their commercial productivity, but also their individual productivity and opens up possibilities to invest in their futures. Saved money is often used to fund children’s education, which opens employment opportunities. If those children decide to stay in Dharavi, their higher levels of education and impact result in a general improvement in quality of life in their community.

At our community workshop, we spoke with a young girl named Aicha. While the adults were

talking, one of our group members distracted the kids by asking them to draw pictures of what Dharavi looked like now, and what it might look like in the future. Aicha’s love and deep connection to her home shone through in her illustration. She drew gardens, parks, smiling buildings, a swimming pool and even an airport. Like Aicha, Dharavi residents are more than resilient. They are proud of their community, and their contribution to it, especially since they often face unprecedented hurdles from outside factors. But optimism, like Aicha’s, prevails across all generations and drives Dharavi to the cultural and economic hub that it is today and beyond.

In the last several decades alone, residents have seen numerous improvements, including the

construction of permanent housing, a switch from candlelight and kerosene dependence to electricity and an increase in education among youth. Community organization in cooperation with municipal governments and private energy companies holds a promising future for Dharavi and the many resilient people who call it home.

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