Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission - JAGA Mission under Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, India
The Pitch
Created by the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act of 2017, the Odisha Liveable Habitat (Jaga) Mission is a comprehensive program that improves living conditions for inhabitants of informal settlements by employing residents in infrastructure upgrading projects, reducing poverty and slowing the spread of diseases.
The Problem
Rapid urbanization across Odisha led to the development of extensive informal housing and unsanitary and dangerous living conditions.
The Process
- Upgraded dilapidated and informal settlements in every city in the state of Odisha
- Involved residents in each step of the process and required 50% women participation
- Partnered with MUKTA, an urban employment program, to create jobs in civil infrastructure
- Granted land rights to residents
- Used drones and other technology to conduct aerial surveys of settlements, accelerating implementation
- Recognized transformed informal settlements as Biju Adarsh Colonies, providing them with a solid waste management system (which was previously absent), access to clean running water and toilets
- Scaled up the model through a mentorship initiative, allowing mentors to train city officials in settlement upgrading
The Impact
- Upgraded 585 informal settlements across 30 cities; 8 cities now have no informal settlements
- Increased access to in-house electricity for 1,082 households and piped water for 14,073 households
- Reduced the spread of disease by including improved public sanitation features, such as distribution of 11,589 household toilets
- Drastically improved public infrastructure, including 73,162.1 meters of paved streets, 52,650.44 meters of drainage systems, 65 community toilets, 151 community centers and 1,387 streetlights
- Gave land rights to 175,000 families across 1,725 informal settlements, enabling them to use housing finance grants to improve their communities
- Provided job opportunities that improve local infrastructure and support local families through partnership with MUKTA
- Trained 62 mentors from 28 pilot cities (who went on to support 83 cities) through the mentorship development program
- Improved residents’ capacity to engage with city officials to address issues
- Improved women’s roles in community meetings and decision making
- Inspired replication in Punjab
