About the FAcilitation centres

Utthaan Facilitation Centres aresingle-window kiosks set up at the PWM project SwachhtaKendra(s)(Material Recovery Facilities) hosted by the PWM Implementation Partners with support and authorization of the Urban Local Body.

Consultation and Facilitation services will be made available to all SafaiSathis in the city identified under theproject. The centres will improve access to social protection benefits to SafaiSathisby acting as a crucial bridge between all stakeholders especially the government departments operating social protection schemes and SafaiSathis in the informal sector.

The primary functions of the facilitation centres will include:

1. Identifying and recording information on eligible schemes for SafaiSathis related to:
   1. Health
   1. Education
   1. Financial Inclusion
   1. Food Security
2. Assisting SafaiSathis with the documentation required to register for schemes and claim benefits
3. Providing information on and creating awareness of social protection
4. Liasoning with ULBs and relevant departments

Why are such centers needed? What concerns will it address?

1. Safai Sathis working hours are odd (early mornings to late nights)
2. Need a location that is approachable
3. Serves as access point on information on the entitlements/ govt. schemes
4. Support in filling up application forms and follow ups
5. Brings visibility to the need of Social Inclusion work for Safai Sathis

How is going to be set up? What are the resources that will be required?

1. Utilize existing infrastructure of Swachhta Kendra(s) set up under PWM for setting up the kiosks
2. Raise additional funding for basic support for infrastructure, human resource etc
3. Raise additional funding to support application fees for schemes
4. Support from ULBs/ State Govt to authorize and empanel Swachhta Kendra SPFC as focal point for Safai Sathis

Impact of the Facilitation Centers

1. At least 9,000 Safai Sathis and their family members will get access to information and schemes
2. Supporting state govt in identifying and registering eligible Safai Sathis households and facilitate their access to benefits.
3. Awareness of social protection schemes within Safai Sathis Community and improved access to them. 
4. Support enumeration of SafaiSathis and improve coverage of schemes that are most relevant to informal economy workers, including health and accident insurance, death benefits and pensions.
5. Ownership of the Urban Local body

Constraints / Challenges of the Facilitation Centers

1. Cater to only Safai Sathis and their immediate family members
   1. There might be situations where grandchildren, relatives, neighbours in the community etc will have to be kept out
2. Limited Range of Services: Provide benefits to limited number of schemes related to identified thematic areas under Utthaan. The centres are not equipped to handle all types of grievances / issued faced by the SafaiSathis.
   1. E.g. Cases of Domestic Violence, Sexual Harassment, Loss of livelihood, Alcoholism etc
   1. Referral services can be provided at additional costs but verifying credibility of the partner organisation is also a threat.
3. Political Threats / Centre can be perceived as a potential threat by local elected representatives
4. Administrative Delays in benefits reaching the SafaiSathis after applying for the scheme

ABout the project – utthaan

“Utthaan – Rise with Resilience” is UNDP’s first of its kind Urban Social Protection Programme, being implemented by the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) team as a step towards enabling social protection to unrecognized but the most integral part of our economic system – our waste pickers (Safai Sathis).

• Over Forty lakh indispensable waste pickers in India’s informal recycling sector are the backbone of the waste management system in the country. Despite providing an essential public health service for the citizens of the country, they have limited to no access to social security.
• The lack of social protection for the Safai Sathis is more evident during the pandemic of COVID-19 while they remain at the highest risk to exposure due to their nature of work and poor living conditions.
• The unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 has significantly affected the marginalized and vulnerable section of the society across economic and social domains.  As a part of the COVID-19 response, UNDP has four main pillars: Digitization, Green Recovery, Social Protection and Recovery from COVID.

Leaving no one behind (LNOB) is a social protection primer for UNDP. Through its flagship project “Utthaan – Rise with Resilience”, the Plastic Waste Management team is working towards finding practical resources on ways to strengthen social protection to address the systemic and interlinked objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project aims to buildresilient communities by strengthening the access to social protection and livelihood opportunities for Safai Saathis through a transformative framework, drawing from the perspectives of a wide range of the PWM Project Stakeholders including Urban Local Bodies, Government Representatives, Policy Makers, Private Sector partners, Implementing Partners and Safai Saathis themselves.

Project overview

• Project Launch Date: 19^th October 2020
• Duration: 9 months (October 2020 to June 2021)
• Location: 10 states and 14 cities across India
• Target: 9,000 Safai Sathis as Direct Beneficiaries and 45,000 as Indirect Beneficiaries
• Field Activities being executed through 17 Community Mobilizers (UN Volunteers)

Project Utthaan is a step towards mainstreaming the need for enumeration of Safai Sathis’ community which needs to be strengthened at the local level. Launched in October 2020, the key objective of Utthaan is to empower Safai Saathis through inclusive and gender-sensitive social protection support programme by facilitating following measures:

• Access to National ID Cards (such as Aadhar, Voter, Ration Card) as a first step to enable access and benefit from Govt. schemes.
• Access to ULB authorized Occupational ID Cards as per the provisions in the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules (SWM), 2016, Plastic Waste Management Rules (PWM), 2018, and Swach Bharat Mission (Urban).
• Linkage to Government schemes for Financial Inclusion and Health and Social Security.
• Advancing dialogue for Social Protection Facilitation Center at ULB level to promote information access and linkage facilitation.

Highlights of the activities in 4 (October 2020 to July 2021) are as follows:

·       Baseline surveys of over 9000 Safai Sathis done

·       202 Focused Group Discussions conducted with Safai Sathis

·       Setting up of Facilitation Centre in Goa to support 500+ Safai Sathis

·       400 received government authorized ID cards

·       700 registered under various insurance schemes

·       500 enrolled in PDS – Public Distribution System (ration cards)

·       60+ children applied for scholarships applicable to the children of waste pickers

The project is entering into the second phase of implementation – the focus being on Mapping the Central, State and City level schemes for Safai Sathis, screening of applicants based on the documents available and tracking the access to schemes.