Enabling Citizenship in Urban Informal Settlements in Mumbai!

Background

In India’s informal settlements, millions live without access to basic rights—clean water, sanitation, legal identity, or social protection—simply because the system isn’t designed to see or serve them. People are often excluded from government schemes and services not by policy, but by paperwork, process, and invisibility.

When you lack documents, you lack access. And when you lack access, your voice is unheard, your rights denied, and your potential unrealised.

Our Response

At Apnalaya, we work at the intersection of citizenship, governance, and dignity.
We enable people in underserved urban communities to become informed, organised, and active citizens—capable of engaging with institutions and advocating for their rights.

Our model is simple but powerful:
We build civic leadership and community participation, and connect people to the systems meant to serve them.

Impact So Far

• 3,270 civic actions led by trained community leaders
• 1,797 persons with disabilities secured UDID cards
• 198 individuals linked to key welfare schemes
• 14,687 families gained access to basic services
• 1,618 people received government entitlements
• 460 registered for E-Shram cards through our facilitation

These numbers reflect lives changed—individuals who are no longer invisible, families who now have water, ration cards, or health insurance, and communities who know how to demand their rights.

Why It Matters

Without awareness, access, and agency, no real change is possible.
We often meet families who’ve lived in cities for decades but have never been counted in a survey, issued an identity card, or informed of their entitlements. They’re disconnected from the system—and the system is disconnected from them.

By investing in civic empowerment, we break this cycle. We turn knowledge into action, and action into accountability.

What We Need

To scale and deepen this work across our intervention areas in Mumbai, we are seeking for your support for the coming year.

Your contribution will help us:

• Train and mentor a new cadre of Community Resource Persons (CRPs)
• Facilitate documentation and access to entitlements
• Organise rights awareness campaigns and civic mobilisation drives
• Build stronger institutional linkages with local and state authorities

Join Us

Your support can transform the trajectory of an entire community—from exclusion to empowerment.

Help us build a more just and inclusive city—where every person is seen, heard, and counted.

EqualityMatters