Sheela Patel


Sheela Patel is an activist and academic involved with people living in slums and shanty towns.

Early life

In 1974, Patel received her Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. She was then involved with a community centre called the Nagpada Neighbourhood House.

SPARC

With Prema Gopalan, Patel is the founding director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, which she set up in Mumbai in 1984 as an advocacy group for the pavement dwellers of Mumbai. SPARC continues to this day to play a major role in the politics of slum development in India and throughout the Third World. In 2000, SPARC was the recipient of the United Nations Human Settlement Award.

Groups

Patel works closely with the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan, two community-based groups working on with the poor in Indian cities. She worked in the National Technical Advisory Group for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
She has founded the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, the Asian Women and Shelter Network and Swayam Shikshan Prayog, an organisation that works with women's collectives in more than 600 villages in Maharashtra.
Patel is also a founder and current chairperson of Slum Dwellers International, a network of community-based organisations in 33 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Awards

2011: Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian honor in India.
2009: David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award
2000: UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award

Selected works