Practicing Humanitarian Architecture

In what ways can architects professionally contribute towards social causes and viably practice humanitarian architecture?

ABSTRACT: The built environment is an important aspect of urban and rural life, affecting lives of people in many ways. These could range from health, security, access and inequality, safety and much more. As designers of this built, the professional architects have considerable potential and responsibility in contributing towards building equitable and socially sensible spaces. As students aspiring to venture into this line of work, we are insufficiently aware of the available opportunities, scope and prospects that lay ahead. The scopes of tangible and viable modes of architectural practice, that also help the society in a positive way seem few.

This research attempts to understand the workings of inspiring people and organisations that pursue social-aware and humanitarian architecture.

Amongst those studied include-Development Alternatives, Delhi; Hunnarshala, Bhuj; People in Centre, Ahmedabad; Seeds, Delhi.

Consequently, we try to assess the possibilities for architectural firms and young graduates in this field of work.

INTRODUCTION: During the course of five years, architecture education involves an acquaintance to social and policy level problems, and working for human welfare, but when we move over to practice, subject to the kind and scale of the firm, the architect generally becomes a service provider for clients who are willing to pay, rarely addressing social issues which he/she is equipped to deal with.

Issues that plague todayâ€&#x;s society range from population explosion, inequalities, climate change, insecurity, segregation, traffic congestion, pollution, waste accumulation, migration, squatter settlements, urban peripheries, housing shortage as well as unpredictable natural disasters. All of these problems, directly or indirectly, are affected by the spaces and buildings people occupy. Architecture thus has much potential to contribute to the society by engaging with these issues. Why then do we see limited participation of architects in this line of work?

Some questions that this research hopes to address are: 1. Considering an architectural organization needs to sustain it and its employees, at the same time doing meaningful work, how does it function and thrive economically?

2. Also, what laws govern the functioning of such entities, and how are they accounted for, in the Architects‟ Act? 3. What is the process of procuring architectural projects to make a difference to those in need?

4. Do these firms face competition from other conventional practices to secure tenders for large scale government projects which can highly impact the aforementioned target groups?

5. What are the various kinds of work they are involved with?

6. What are the other kinds of firms that address social issues through architecture?

7. What incentives are there or should be provided for architects to further delve into the domain of social architecture?

8. What are the various other ways to and challenges faced in securing funding for projects?

With a recce of the various kinds of architects involved in practicing socially relevant work reveals that following are the broad ways in which the profession contributes: -

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Driven by philanthropic motivations, where personal interest and availability of funds are the main criteria, certain architects cater to the society while expecting no profits. This path is taken by few, established architectural firms, given the obvious lack of incentive besides a perssonal sense of fulfilment.

Many large commercial architecture firms contribute to the society in ways of scattered “pro-bono” projects aside from their mainstream work, occasionally.

CSR – corporate social responsibility is another way to involve architects in this work, where in large companies have to invest in some kind of socially relevant work and might require architectural services

It is evident that social work is not financially rewarding. To be able to carry out the philanthropic work, firms need to pursue commercial projects whose profits can then be invested in social work. Work hence, will majorly involve projects that are profitable and humanitarian architecture in these cases is a rarity.

There are also organisations, who only deal with social development and related projects and research related to them. These are NPOs (non-profit

organizations) whose work in the field is their full-time occupation. The livelihood of the employees depends on this job, although the compensation provided is minimal. The profits from any of their projects can only be invested towards the cause and are not enjoyed by the organization itself. These entities benefit from the fact that certain government projects only allow bids from such organizations.

A typical organization of this sort is usually funded by donors whose interests are aligned with that of the project. The functioning of the NPO is only funded for the time being of the project and research or other such work is taken up to sustain themselves or keep going in between projects.

In the case of NPOs, apart from the critical catch of no money, there is the fact that sustaining oneself while being solely dependent on these projects is unrealistic. The reasons vary from lack of projects (not lack of demand) and unavailability of funds to the basic point that there is no incentive to delve into this difficult area of work besides oneâ€&#x;s personal motivations. Following are some of the organizations that carry-out humanitarian work, their structure and funding mechanism:

CASE STUDIES

Name of Organisation:

Development Alternatives ( DA)

Formation: Dr Ashok Khosla founded and was president of the thirty-year-old Development Alternatives Group and now chairs its Board. Headquartered in New Delhi, the DA Group was among the first civil society organisations set up to address the issues of sustainable development as a whole. It also pioneered the concept of social enterprise, creating business-like approaches for eradicating poverty and conserving the natural resource base.

Type of organisation: This is a conglomerate called Development Alternatives Group, comprising five organisations. The non-profit Societies, such as the flagship entity Development Alternatives and TARA (Technology and Action for Rural Advancement) are responsible for research, innovation, policy, incubation of green businesses and technical support services.

Principles: Development Alteratives claim to be “the world's first social enterprise dedicated to sustainable development, is a research and action organisation striving to deliver socially equitable, environmentally sound and economically scalable development outcomes. DA‟s green technology innovations for habitat, water, energy and waste management, which deliver basic needs and generate sustainable livelihoods, have reduced poverty and rejuvenated natural ecosystems in the most backward regions of India.”

DA‟s Mission is to help eliminate poverty and regenerate the environmental resource base through methods that are highly scalable. 

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Empowering Communities through multi-stakeholder action for: o Institution Development with a focus on women and marginalised groups o Basic Needs fulfillment more specifically habitat, water, energy Creating Green Jobs at a large scale through promotion and support of o Employment Skills for Green Job creation o Enterprise Creation for Social Enterprises Promoting and advocating Low Carbon Pathways for Development through the design and demonstration of o Natural Resources Management Models o Clean Technology Solutions

Organisational Structure: The DA group trust functions as a group of societies as mentioned below: Non-Profit Societies: 

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Development Alternatives engages in scientific research and innovation, on-the-ground implementation of eco solutions as well as communication and policy influence.

Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA) practices green business incubation and provides technical support services.

For-Profit Social Enterprises: 

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TARA Machines and Tech Services Private Limited promotes sustainable technology solutions for small and medium enterprises. It markets green technology solutions for building construction, waste recycling and handmade paper production, delivering business solutions to a global network of micro, small and medium enterprises, specialising in eco concrete, eco-kilns, fly ash and recycling technology.

TARAhaat Information and Marketing Services Private Limited create micro-franchises to deliver IT enabled education and skill building products to young job seekers.

TARA Nirman Kendra delivers environmentally friendly habitat products and services through a range of sustainable building technologies and advisory support.

TARA Enviro markets cutting-edge products designed for safe water and other vital resources.

DESI Power Private Limited promotes biomass energy-based “EmPower” models for rural electrification and enterprise creation.

Funding: SOCIETY FOR DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES has a lot of donors, local and foreign. For example, in 2015-16 they have received funding from Climate Action Network South Asia, Heinrich Boll Foundation, Toshiba International, Charities Aid Foundation India, DFID India, VSO International and many more.

Sister organisations under TARA also support DA financially as per Audit reports.

Work undertaken Its activities broadly cover three primary areas that underlie any sustainable development process: the design and large-scale dissemination of appropriate technologies, rational environmental management systems, and equitable people-oriented institutions and policies. The DA Group innovates such eco-solutions to help meet the basic needs of all and works with partners, including government bodies, local entrepreneurs and civil society to market these in a commercially viable and an environmentally friendly

manner to an ever-growing body of consumers.

As for acquiring projects, they generally propose solutions to societal problems themselves to the government and appeal for funding and permissions. They also compete in bids and facilitate conversations with funding agencies such as the UN, Dept. of Science and technology, CSR initiatives etc.

They offer many facilities that include the following: Centres of Excellence: The DA Group Headquarters building houses the Centre for Sustainable Futures, the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Housing and Rural Infrastructure, A Climate Change Centre and a Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management. These centres are engaged in cutting edge research on issues of global and national sustainable development, access of communities to basic needs goods and services and natural resources management. The Centres of Excellence are supported by technical and social laboratories.

Apart from this there is a Product Development Centre , Building Materials Laboratories, Building Materials Laboratories, TARAgram, a livelihood resource center and a social laboratory demonstrating models of sustainable development, with facilities for training and conferencing in Orachha, Pahauj and Datia and more.

Their primary mission is to promote sustainable livelihoods. Even though it was started by architects, it is run by a highly multidisciplinary team. Amongst other things, they work towards enabling shelter, developing holistic architecture and developing the construction sector to improve livelihoods and decrease negative environmental impact. Architecture and construction is just a means to an end of sustainable development in these offices. For example, for the housing project in Orachha, they organised funds, trained artisans, arranged for funds through the government, carried out participatory design exercises, worked for production of materials, and finally the facilitation of construction. They worked with the communities of artisans to connect to necessary funding agencies like the bank.

Name of the organization: SEEDS It is a non-profit organisation that seeks to protect the lives and livelihoods of people exposed to natural disasters and living in disaster prone areas. SEEDS primarily engages in shelter reconstruction and adopts locally based approaches to reduce the impact of future disasters on communities at risk.

Formation: Founded in 1994, SEEDS comprises of young professionals drawn from various development related fields. A visit to Dehradun during the Chipko movement instigated an urge in the founding members Dr. Anshu Sharma and Dr. Manu Gupta to create a philanthropic support base to empower the powerless. It is governed and advised by a board of eminent academicians and practitioners from international organisations.SEEDS Asia, founded in 2006, comprises of individuals who have a wide range of experience in humanitarian response, particularly the Kobe Earthquake of 1995, community based disaster management and environmental education.

Type of organization: 1. SEEDS India is registered as a P2ublic Society. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. All donations made to SEEDS by Indian citizens are eligible for Tax Deduction under section 80G of the Income Tax Act 1961.

2. SEEDS Asia is a registered non-profit organisation in Japan that takes an integrated approach to disaster management and environmental conservation to ensure safer communities in the Asia Pacific region.

SEEDS Asia leverages the 17 years of experience of its sister organisation SEEDS India. It is this foundation that enables it to expand the work to the Asia-Pacific region.

3. SEEDS Technical services Pvt. Ltd. Is a Section 8 Indian Non-Government Company, its MoA including Community, Personal & Social Services.

SEEDS Technical Services (STS) is an independent entity that focuses on training and consultancy on disaster management and environmental sustainability. It draws its strength from years of SEEDS experience.

Principles: SEEDS with its small team of committed individuals has reached out to families affected by earthquakes, floods and cyclones; restored schools and homes; and has invariably put its faith in education to build long term resilience.

SEEDS continues to advocate for and involve with communities across Asia to ensure a safer and sustainable world.

SEEDS Technical Services has been involved in the training of development practitioners, government officials and school teachers. It acts as the anchor for the Global Open Learning Forum on Risk Education (GOLFRE).

Organizational structure: SEEDS India currently employees 50 people; 20 with technical qualifications, 20 with other qualifications but actively engaged in programmes and support staff. The technical employees include 4 architects, 3 planners, 5 with social science background, 4 MBAs and 3 in communications.

SEEDS Technical Services has Dr Anshu Sharma and Dr. Manu Gupta registered as directors.

Funding: Their primary source of funding comes from International Relief organizations like European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), UNICEF etc. This is done by applying for grants and sending in proposals of intervention.

Aid is also provided by a number of national organizations like National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), United Way of India (UWI) and similar funding parties like Plan India, Ganga Action Parivar.

CSR and corporate tie-ups like TATA Relief committee, Jagaran Prakshan Limited where corporations are obligated to utilise 2% of their profits for a notable social cause.

World Bank contracts are dealt with by the SEEDS Technical Services division.

They also frequently apply for research grants to National Foundation of India.

Their technical cell, SEEDS Technical Services often generates the surplus required to fund the organizational fees of SEEDS India.

Projects and funding organizations: Listed below are the key projects undertaken by SEEDS India in the fiscal year 2014-15.

Objective Activities

Budget Funded by Outreach

Provision of humanitarian assistance to flood-affected families in Pooch and Pulwama districts in Jammu & Kashmir • Response to immediate shelter and basic needs • Establishment of temporary school tents • Distribution of school kits for children INR 7,407,195 Trafigura | SEEDS Asia | UNICEF | United Way of India 314 families, 23 schools, 2566 children across two districts and 74 villages

Objective Activities

Budget Funded by Outreach

Objective Activities

Budget Funded by

Outreach

Objective

Activities

Budget Funded by

Construction of transitional shelters for flood-affected families in Pulwama district • Identification of the most vulnerable households • Construction of disaster resilient transitional shelters through technical support • Capacity building of local masons / carpenters INR 13,656,390 United Way of India | BATA | Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) 100 transitional shelters and 42 toilets across seven villages of Pulwama district

Reconstruction of schools and community spaces as part of the recovery programme in Uttarakhand • Reconstruction of 13 schools and construction of one Community center in Sumari Bardar • School safety programme with children of and teachers of all schools INR 14,348,321 SEEDS Asia | Parmarth Niketan | Abhiyan | Paul Hamlyn | United Way of India | Tata Relief Committee | Group of Friends Club | Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) | Jagran Prakashan Limited | Ganga Action Parivar and Divine Seva Foundation | Care Today | General public (Local and FCRA) • One school completed and construction of 12 schools and one community centre are undergoing • School safety training for approximately 2000 students and teachers

To ensure humanitarian and early recovery needs of the cyclone and flood affected communities in the four worst hit districts of Odisha though a multi-agency and multi-sector coordinated approach • Survey and field verification of the most vulnerable households • Finalisation of shelter beneficiaries and statutory approval from government • Repair and construction of disaster resilient shelters through material and technical support • Capacity building of local masons / carpenters on disaster resilient housing and village community on DRR INR 6,307,369 Christian Aid / ECHO

Outreach

• 250 houses repaired [ partially damaged] • 50 houses reconstructed [ fully damaged] • 13,720 man days created under Cash For Work @Rs.164/- • 100 masons /carpenters trained on safe construction using local building materials. • 11 Village Development Committees formed • 2 prototype houses constructed • Construction manual developed and disseminated

Objective

Work with drought affected communities in Beed district, Maharashtra, to mitigate current stresses through critical sustenance support and prevent further escalation into a full blown emergency.

• Augmentation of existing water sources and connection to the water distribution system • Community awareness workshops, campaigns and rallies on safe hygiene practices, safe water handling practices and use of toilets • Construction of community toilets INR 4,491,954.39 SEEDS Asia

Activities

Budget Funded by Outreach

• Water augmentation for 18 wells and 8 handpumps • Construction of 4 community toilets • Benefits and training for 1800 households (9629 people)

Network and outreach programs: Objective

Activities

Budget Funded by Outreach

Measure community resilience; identify actions and advocacy activities at local, national and regional levels; and strengthen civil society organisations at the local levels.

• National Training Workshop in Hue, Vietnam • Identification of 6 Risk Zones for Frontline India • Training and support to local partners, staff and field-based volunteers in the risk zones in February 2015.

INR 626,000 GNDR • 24 communities and over 132 community members including adults, single women, children, youth and senior citizens. • Identification of local partners for building a stronger national platform for DRR in India.

Name of Organisation: Hunarshala Formation: Hunnarshala was formed as a foundation which provided it‟s skills and resources in Building Technology and Innovation as a part of a local NGO network Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan after the 2001 Earthquake in Gujarat.

Type of organisation: In 2003, Hunnarshala was registered as an organisation under section 25 of Companies Act promoted by Prof. K. Jagdish (IISC, Bangalore), Kirteebhai Khatri (Kutchmitra) and Sandeep Virmani.

Principles: Its primary focus is to help communities in disaster struck regions build their own dwellings. It does so by promoting vernacular tradition of building construction of the space whilst providing technical guidance about structure and appropriate technologies. Their motive is to transfer the technical knowledge of construction to the community and help them become self-organized and independent.

Typically in the reconstruction post-disaster they teach the people a scientific approach to building, for example earthquake resistant ring beam construction, which they would adopt in their further constructions. They promote technologies that are low maintenance and replicable.

In this way it also promotes democratisation of the society by sharing the technical knowledge and means to parts of the society who do not have access to it.

It works on the principle of Owner-Driven Construction, which is “a reconstruction approach that enables home owners to rebuild their houses themselves (by hiring the necessary skilled labour), through a guided combination of financial and technical assistance, and a regulatory framework that would ensure access to good quality and affordable construction materials‟ (Duyne Barenstein and Iyengar 2010: 164).

Hunnershala offers its knowledge and skills for building designs, settlement planning, social housing, disaster reconstruction, waste water treatment systems, infrastructure development, etc. , while promoting and demonstrating people centric, environment friendly, artisan based approaches and technologies. Hunnarshala believes that artisans are bearers of tremendous knowledge, and their engagement with modern building science is important for delivering high quality buildings. Its

shareholders are motivated by this vision and not by profit, according to Hunnarshala.

Organisational Structure: It is divided into three branches: a) Community Empowerment b) Artisan empowerment c) Artisan school It is a collaboration of professionals, corporates and scientists. Interns are hired through advertisement on the website. It has various partner organisations engaging in allied humanitarian causes.

Funding: There is a group of shareholders that fund the projects. It is a not for profit organisation so any profits must go into other projects. There are 80 shareholders: people from various backgrounds such as industrialists, businessmen, activists, educationists, scientists, etc. Its balance sheets are publicly available on the website, hence maintaining transparency.

Work undertaken (type, procurement,): Typical Working Structure: 1. Organization and coordination of the agendas of varied actors.

National/local governments to the panchayats and families. These agendas usually make the project economically feasible, socially viable and sustainable.

2. Taking a managerial and organizational role in maintain the link between the community and private enterprises in organizing transactions.

3. Providing technical knowledge of building construction in the framework of the vernacular traditions, local to the context.

Because of the grass-roots and community-led approach it takes, this has produced great variety of architecture.

Outreach (and examples): Along with the guidelines Hunnershala prepared a manual for masons in gujarati to educate them about safe construction practices. These technical guidelines and the manual enabled more than 100 villages to rebuild using earth technologies. Hunnarshala works closely with partner organisations of Abhiyan, like Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS) to train the rural population in construction so that they can rebuild their homes in ways that don't compromise on safety or their cultural expression.

Architectural (and examples) Projects completed under: 1. Indira Awas Yojana Mandated under Commissionerate of Rural Development, Government of Gujrat to provide technical facilitation to build housing for BPL families.

The objective of Hunnershala is to ensure technical support for the implementation of Indira Awas Yojana at district level through development of appropriate design options, technical guidelines for each option, prototype demonstrations and training.

Steps undertaken: 1. Study of typologies local to the place where houses need to be built.

2. Design appropriate solutions, keeping in mind acceptability, affordability and safety.

3. Prototype construction of about five designs.

4. Training of the beneficiaries, masons and artisans in the appropriate technologies and materials to build their houses.

2. Kosi Flood Rehabilitation - Bihar Hunnarshala demonstrated the technology as well as policy implementation for appropriate construction by building 42 houses in Orlaha village and 89 houses in Puraini village and trained more than 400 people for further implementing the program. It further developed policy with Bihar government that facilitated the reconstruction 100,000 houses. Hunnarshala has also undertaken Post – disaster reconstruction work in Kashmir, Iran, Indonesia, and Afghanistan.

3. Urban Slum Redevelopment: Detailed Project Report for the redevelopment of the 3 slums was prepared

by Hunnarshala and has been approved and sanctioned by BMTPC. Hunnarshala Foundation has been appointed as the Project Management Agency for implementation of RAY three slums in Bhuj, Gujarat by Bhuj Nagar Palika. 314 houses shall be built in 3 slums; Bhim Rao-1 Nagar, Ramdev Nagar and GIDC relocation site. Regions served: Gujarat; May serve disaster struck regions in India.

Other work: It releases informative and interactive publications such as manuals and guidelines for re-construction, that are meant to spread awareness among the public.

Name: People in Centre Consulting ( Ahmedabad, Gujarat) Formation: People in Centre is registered as a Company under the RoC (Registrar of Companies) It is a Pvt. Ltd., non-listed company. It was registered in 2008 by coming together of like- minded people who had previous experience (individually) with NGOs. Despite not being an NGO, it is bound by its objectives as stated during registration. It works as a „consultancy company.‟ Type of organisation: Pvt. Ltd. Firm, Tie up with Unnatti NGO, help them acquire socially inclined projects.

They believe it is more honest to call themselves a „company‟, rather than „NGO‟ as profits may be disguised as salaries or property owned, in the latter case.

Principles: ‘ People in Centre‟ Consulting, as described on their website, is an organization founded on the principle of bringing people into the centre of all developmental endeavours and facilitating empowering mechanisms for them. The firm believes in the need for a shift in the present focus of development which is not sustainable and often marginalizes people, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Working with this as their premise, the consultation provides socio-technical support for project planning, coordination, implementation, action research, process documentation, training, monitoring, impact assessment, knowledge consolidation, dissemination and perspective building.

Unnati‟s Vision is: To create an inclusive society where all stakeholders, particularly the vulnerable, participate with full empowerment and gain equal access to and control over services, resources and institutions.

Organisational Structure: The organization, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, comprises of three principal architects, employees and interns. They work in collaboration with the government and like groups such as Hunnarshala Foundation and BuildAur.

Funding: UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), Indian Govt., other private clients

Work Undertaken: Their work is organised under the following sub-heads: - Restructuring Human Interventions for Ecological Balance - Reinforcing Peoples‟ Abilities for Coping with Disasters - Reclaiming Urban Space for the People Projects are procured through contacts, and bidding procedure, just like any other company. While some bids only allow certain kinds of companies to submit bids, others are concerned with the kind of work done by companies.

PiC maybe left out of bidding procedure which only invite NGOs, but may be invited for other projects relevant to the kind of work they do. Projects are also procured out of associated organisations such as Unnati. Hunnarshala also collaborates with PiC where it lacks expertise.

PiC is motivated to take up social welfare-oriented projects purely out of its founding member‟s interests. Just like any other company, they do the kind of work they believe in, which happen to be socially relevant projects in their case. Collaboration is a major part in such projects.

A. Architectural Projects: When a dam breach in Nepal damaged 3,00,000 houses in Bihar, UNDP (United Nations Development Fund) funded the rehabilitation of some villages. UNDP, being familiar with PiCs work, invited them. Collaboration with other organisations/NGOs, they rehabilitated two villages as a model for further rehabilitation. For the next set of villages (three whole districts), they trained masons/workers in different villages to see the rehabilitation through (funded by the Govt. this time), though this was not as successful.

An upcoming project is: redesigning riverside squatter homes in flood prone areas in Bihar.

They also work under policies like PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna) and IAY (Indira Awas Yojna), which deal with providing shelters for people. Some more examples: Appropriate Housing Options for Rural Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and West Bengal: With UNDP collaboration, People in Centre along with Hunnarshala and BuildAur supported Ministry of Rural Development and respective State Governments in developing appropriate technical options for social housing under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The technical options were based on a study of vernacular construction practices, locally available materials and skills and peoples‟ aspirations. As part of this engagement, housing zonation for each state was identified and appropriate options were developed through participatory and consultative process. State level workshops were also organized to share these housing options with the government. The state wise reports are available on request.

Reconstructing Schools using Bamboo in Violence Affected Kokrajhar, Assam: People in Centre‟ Consulting collaborated with UNNATI to support local communities reconstruct the schools that were destroyed in the ethnic violence in Kokrajhar, Assam in July 2012. PiC brought together local artisans with artisans from Kosi flood affected region to share their skills and knowledge of bamboo and rebuild new schools. In the process of construction, bamboo trusses and improved bamboo joinery were demonstrated and shared. Total six schools are constructed for both Bodo and Muslim communities.

Developing Alternative Design for Jamalpur Market in Ahmedabad, Gujarat: After newspaper reports on traffic obstructions caused by vending activities near Jamalpur Vegetable market, police took harshly on the vendors selling vegetables outside the APMC market. People in Centre, along with SEWA worked with the street vendors to organise the marketplace. Several representations were made with the AMC officials to come to agreement for a case for organised vending market under the newly constructed flyover bridge at Jamalpur cross roads.

B. Outreach projects: Promoting Seismic Resistant Housing – A Set of 20 Posters: People in Centre‟ Consulting supported a campaign to improve seismic resistance in existing houses. The campaign was undertaken by UNNATI – Organization for Development Education in Kutch district of Gujarat. A set of 20 posters was prepared about how homeowners could improve seismic resistance of their existing houses. The focus was on simple principles that could ensure much improved performance of existing houses with simple retrofitting measures

Training of Supervisor Artisans and Engineers for Kosi Flood Reconstruction: PiC and Hunnarshala, as part of ODRC support to Kosi Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Programme, Government of Bihar, worked to strengthen capacities of supervisor artisans and engineers appointed by the GoB to provide technical guidance to flood-affected house owners. „People in Centre‟ Consulting and Hunnashala Foundation built capacities of more than 300 supervisor artisans on technical guidelines to reach out to more than 30000 house owners. Training programmes covered all the stages and details of construction of bamboo as well as brick houses.

Challenges faced: The main challenge with such a firm, is to resolve the differences between the client and the party served, as in the case of socially oriented architecture, the party served is generally different from the one paying for the job. There is a tendency for the paying party (the govt.) to dictate terms over the already marginalised impact group (The common people), which needs to be resolved by the company working for both of them.

Sources:   

http://www.peopleincentre.org/PiC/ Rushank Mehta, Director, PiC Yogesh Saini, Intern, PiC

OBSERVATIONS: As observed from the above case studies, there are essentially 3 to 4 most probable ways an entity working towards socially conscious architecture is registered.

Recognised by the Architectâ€&#x;s act, most conventional architectural firms tend to be Proprietorship firms wherein the founding architects are personally liable for the projects they handle. It is an unincorporated business owned and run by one individual with no distinction between the business and its owners. They are entitled to all profits and are responsible for all the business's debts, losses and liabilities. Most architects who work in social work only do so through their own goodwill and philanthropic intentions, using profits acquired from the business.

Architectural entities working full-time for social good are limited. People in Centre is one such Pvt. Ltd. Firm. Their tie up with an NGO Unnatti, helps them acquire socially inclined projects. They pay taxes like a normal firm even though their projects are exclusively social welfare-oriented. Only their devotion to the cause enables them to overcome financial challenges. A limited team of devoted people with meagre pay is employed.

The not for profit organisations working in this direction are usually trusts like DA which is a Group Trust or Societies, like SEEDS. Public charitable trusts may be established for a number of purposes, including poverty relief, education, medical relief, the provision of facilities for recreation, and any other objective of general public utility. Indian public trusts are generally irrevocable. No national law governs public charitable trusts in India, although many states have Public Trusts Acts.

Societies are membership organizations that may be registered for charitable purposes. They are usually managed by a governing council or a managing committee and are regulated by the Societies Registration Act which has been adopted by various states. Unlike trusts, societies may be dissolved.

Another kind of entities working towards this cause are Section 25 companies, under the Companies Act 1956, companies formed for promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity or any other useful object. The profits accrued or any other income obtained is used in promotion of its objectives and it prohibits payment of any dividend to its members.

Hunnarshala is one such company. People who own this company only gain an essence, unlike a regular company, where owners and shareholders can make profits or receive dividends, no money gets out of a Section 25 company. Certain fixed salary amount and all the profits are used to further the cause at hand. Depending on how it is registered under the Income-Tax Act, companies could benefit from income-tax exemptions, or from the

provision wherein people donating money to these companies receive income deductions in their income-tax liability.

Whether a trust, society or Section 25 company, the Income Tax Act, 1961 gives all categories equal treatment, in terms of exempting their income and granting 80G certificates, whereby donors to non-profit organisations may claim a rebate against donations made.

General Funding sources of NPOs:    

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Crowd Funding: Launch a public appeal through social media.

Donation amount is not taxed upon CSR: All corporate firms are obliged to spend 2% of their earned profit towards social work Corporate firms sometimes have a tie up with some NGOs who handle their CSR All staff members of these corporate firms are also encouraged to donate to these NGOs and then the company matches the amount collected to give to these NGOs Giving proposals to institutions like DFID (Department for International Development (DfID), a United Kingdom government department responsible for administering overseas aid. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty".) , United Nations, etc.

Private family run foundations (Tata Trust, Mittals etc.)

World Bank Contracts (taxable) (STS does contracting and consulting for such world bank projects) Most NPOs have sister firms like STS for Seeds that support them financially Research Grants: In India these are provided by National Foundation of India etc. They are gaining popularity today.

Challenges for architects who wish to be involved:  

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Due to the nature of these organisations, only experienced, well connected and financially stable people can start and run them.

If architects chose to be more involved in being a part of these organisations, their role exceeds what would have been in a normal architectural firm and they would spend much time in management and funding related activities.

These entities are usually multi-disciplinary in nature and occasionally employ architects as and when the service is needed. The openings for architects, especially fresh graduates are few and generally underpaid. Mostly, much of the work is realised through interns and volunteers.

The irregularity of projects is also a cause for concern in these firms for architects to be dedicated to full-time working for them. There is a strong lack of security in the field.

Group trusts and societies tend to set up sister organisations that may be Pvt. Ltd. Companies engaged in related service provision and work.

These organisations tend to function in an area of ambiguity in terms of shared finances and work employees are made to do.

Each year, hundreds of students graduate to become architects through the many schools in India. Many of these are starry eyed with intentions to serving society through their acquired skill sets. Through many seminars, discussions and theory classes over 5 years, they have been made sensitive to issues in the society that architecture hopes to tackle. Yet, upon graduation, commonly, the only practical lucrative jobs they can hope to get are for firms engaged in commercial projects. Even these jobs are quite less in number.

There is no denying that there is a pressing demand for services. Issues such as spatial inequalities, sustainability, insecurity, segregation, traffic, pollution, waste, migration, natural disasters, informality, urban peripheries and housing shortage are waiting to be tackled. There is also a large group of people wanting to work in this direction, who don‟t know how they can contribute.

There is an imperative need for reorganizing resources and bridging this gap: Identifying problems and coming up with tangible solutions, collecting the requisite talent pool to provide these solutions, enabling these forces and

providing them with certain professional security, acquiring funds through the government bodies, CSRs, international organisations etc., and finally, ensuring that good design reaches the masses and not just the privileged few.

Whose duty is this? Do we wait for the government to do something and wait decades for them to respond to our occasional humanitarian proposals or is it time that as like-minded professionals we collect to start, what we all realise, needs to be done? If well-informed and problem-solving specialists join hands to get things going, through pre-established or new channels of influence, change can begin and opportunities can arise.

Silver linings can be seen in some circuits where like-minded, well intentioned practitioners have come together to share their resources for the greater good. One example is the Indian Habitat Forum: INHAF. It is formed by multiple stakeholders such as NGOs, CBOs, activists, academics, researchers, students, concerned professionals, enlightened and responsible entrepreneurs and pro-active citizens. INHAF’s strength is in its ability to network and bring concerned parties on to a shared platform to deliberate on ideas and issues and act in search for options and solutions. The organisational structure is a great exemplar for professional collaboration and co-production and also creates opportunities for young graduates and professionals.

The need today is to create the right kind of projects and opportunities for architects to contribute. As Architect Alejandro Aravena, the winner of the 2016 Pritzker Prize rightly put it, “difficult questions” like these, “require professional quality, not professional charity”.