Process of Settlement Survey

The creation of the settlement profile, by the people of the settlement itself, is what participation in the process of enumeration and mapping is all about. Envisaging these profiles as tools to better articulating the demands of the people, is a major factor underlying this process. The objectives of this Module are to explain:

• Processes to assist communities in slum profiling
• Stages of the process and the methodologies adopted to assist communities in slum profiling

Slums dwellers constantly live under the threat of eviction, as most slums are not recognized by the government. Settlement level discussions and city level meetings between various slum dwellers provide people with information required to challenge government data and to restrict processes of eviction and claim their rights as citizens.

The cases of the Dharavi slums of Mumbai and the slums of Cuttack, Orissa, provide excellent examples of the efficacy of participatory enumeration and mapping.