Habitat for Humanity India
Habitat for Humanity India’s vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Anchored by the conviction that safe and affordable housing provides a critical foundation for breaking the cycle of poverty, Habitat India works with low-income, marginalized families to build homes, provide housing-related services and raise awareness for adequate housing and sanitation.
The core area of Habitat’s work in India is:- Decent Shelter
- Wash (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
- Disaster Risk Reduction and Response
Established in 1983 in Khammam, Telangana, Habitat India serves over 33.6 million people across 26 states by building decent homes, sanitation facilities and providing relief during disasters. .
Disaster Risk Reduction and Response: Natural disasters disrupt the lives of thousands of people in India every year. Through Habitat’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Response program, and with the help of volunteers, donors and local partners, we are able to provide relief intervention, shelter assistance, education, and permanent housing solutions to the affected individuals and families.
Pathways to Permanence: Habitat believes that safe, reliable shelter provides the foundation from which post-disaster assistance can begin to re emerge. Habitat’s Pathways to Permanence strategy enables individuals and families to take the necessary steps in taking back control of their lives following a tragedy through support for sanitation, livelihoods and permanent disaster-resilient housing.
Habitat India’s Response to Kerala received
Kerala received an abnormally high rainfall from the first week of June to mid-August2018. The water levels in several reservoirs and dams were near full capacity due to heavy rainfall in their catchment areas. Another severe spell of rainfall started from the 14th of August and continued till the 19th of August, resulting in disastrous flooding as water was released from 35 of the 54 dams in the state, flooding all its 14 districts. About 1 million people were severely affected, mainly from the districts of Idukki, Wayanad, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Alappuzha.
On 2Oth August 2018, Habitat for Humanity India sent a disaster response team to begin relief operations that would end up serving more than 1,50,000flood affected families in Kerala. In the last 21 months, Habitat’s work in Kerala has been through many phases — from immediate relief, transitional shelters, building disaster resilient homes to launching Household Support Services today.
Habitat for Humanity India was among the first organizations to mount a large scale relief intervention in the aftermath. With the support from our partners, Habitat India provided First Responders’ Kits to 1,16,956 families, and Humanitarian Aid Kits including Emergency Shelter Kits to 37,263 in the first phase. Through our Pathways to Permanence strategy, Habitat India implemented relief programs(First Responders’ Kit, Humanitarian Aid Kit, Emergency Shelter Kit), Conditional Cash Transfer, Transitional Shelter, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Support, Livelihood Restoration, building or repairing homes and Housing Support Services.
| Type of intervention | No. of families impacted | No. of individuals impacted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RELIEF PHASE | |||
| First responder’s Kits | 653It | 32690 | |
| Humanitnrian Aid Kiis | 4355 | 21775 | |
| Tool bank | – | 5278 | |
| HOUSING SUPPORT SERVICE | |||
| Technical and documentation assistance | 172 | 860 | |
| RECONSTRUCTION PHASE | |||
| House repairs | 55 | 225 | |
| New house constructed | 70 | 350 | |
| CBDRM | 215 | ||
| Water bag distribution | 100 | 500 | |
| COMM UNITY INFRASTRUCTURE | |||
| RO water plant installed | 1086 | 5430 | |
| Solar panels installed in 3 schools and I Public Health Ccntrc Distribution of 1O laptops, 10 computer tables and chairs to Govt. High school in Puthiyakav’u |
2140 students in 3 schools 150 footfall per day in PHC |
||
| 36 Solar street lights installed in Puthcnvclikara Panchayat | 400 | 2000 | |
| LIVELIHOOD RESTORATION | |||
| Livelihood support for 76 handloom weavers — Supply of dye, yarns, repair of looms |
76 | ||
| COVID-19 RESPONSE | |||
| FEK’s distributed during COVID – 19 | 1145 | 5725 | |
| Total | 13817 | ||
| Table 1: Various interventions and number of families impacted through Habitat India’s response in Kerala till July 2020 | |||
