Strategy SPARC

In its work, SPARC has chosen (i) to support the efforts of community groups wherever they already exist, create area resource centres where there is a need, and to assist isolated communities to join together through such processes; (ii) to strengthen communities' own efforts with whatever resources (information, training, networking, advocacy) SPARC can generate; (iii) to ensure that, within these organizations of the poor, there is a clear and defined space for women to participate as partners in the process of change; and ( iv) to create an information base, through participatory research, on the poor and their problems.
SPARC is a member of a three-way alliance with the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) and Mahila Milan (MM) as it two partners. The Mahila Milan group (meaning 'women together' in Hindi) came into being when SPARC’s founder members began to interact with women living on the pavements of Mumbai. These women stated categorically that secure shelter was their main priority and SPARC-members realized that secure habitat was indeed the very foundation of any transformation from poverty towards proper socialization, citizen building and constructive community practice. It was a very difficult area of work. However, SPARC took the challenge and joined hands with MM; NSDF joined later on.
This three way partnership or alliance was advantageous to all the three organizations. For MM, alignment with the NSDF meant the inclusion of their members in the mainstream slum movements that the Federation leads and the considerable influence of a national federation to back their claims. For the NSDF, the alignment with SPARC and MM brought two components. SPARC, with its professional input, would lead the Alliance and provide the Federation with the organizational and managerial capability that it lacked. MM would give the Federation an opportunity to develop sustainable relationships with women mobilized earlier for demonstrations but not included in decision making, as the Federation (until the alliance) was only a male organization. For SPARC, the Federation represented a complimentary resource with a pool of skilled and committed community organizers working nationally.
SPARC has assisted the development and strengthening of people’s organization, and linked itself with them in a critical partnership in which they collectively aspire to achieve commonly articulated goals. And finally, through people’s experiences and in the explorations of new initiatives, it has identified solutions which communities require for their own development. Based on these, SPARC has sought to challenge existing practices of service deliveries by the state and engaged the state agencies to relate directly to communities by reorganizing their relationship with each other. With state support, SPARC seeks to create institutional arrangements where communities own and control organizations and institutions that provide services to the poor. It has managed to demonstrate that partnerships between NGOs, communities and governments can and do bring change. SPARC has adopted the strategy to create an expanding base of poor communities that are involved and interested in addressing their own issues of land security, urban equity, basic services and amenities.