Working in Urban Slums

40,000 people migrate to Mumbai and its environs every month leaving their villages in remote areas because they experience the hardships of extreme poverty.  Most of these migrants end up joining ever-expanding existing slum communities. The overcrowded and under-resourced slums are challenged with limited access to water, electricity and sanitation. GPM has been operating in one particular slum since 2012, the Kalwa East slum just north of Mumbai City.  

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The Kalwa suburb in the Thane District is divided into West and East Kalwa by the railway tracks that connect Mumbai to northern suburbs and further interstate. Kalwa East, with a population of almost 200,000 people consists of families that have come from within Maharashtra state as well as as far as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The community in Kalwa East is approximately 70% Hindu and 30% Muslim and the families vary in size and level of literacy with most adults engaged in menial work in areas like construction, cleaning, rag-picking and the like. Every morning there s a steady stream of people leaving the slums in search for work.

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GPM has worked in the Bhaskar Nagar and Shavaji Nagar neighborhoods in Kalwa since 2012 working closely with members of the community to provide essential community development services and programs in the area. Our staff on the ground in Kawa are from the community itself and we are proud of the strides we have made in the overall health, education, nutrition and economic empowerment to thousands of people in these neighborhoods.

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Below is a list of all the programs established by GPM in partnership with the community and local authorities:

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