ABOUT US

2 States I 9 cities I 225 settlements I 10,000+ members
Odisha: Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Paradeep, Behrampur, Jajpur
West Bengal: Kolkata, Kalyani, Kona

The Urban and Development Resource Centre emerged as one of the few urban NGOs in Odisha through a catalyzing experience related to evictions in Bhubaneswar in 1998, in which it offered assistance to slum dwellers in the form of surveys to ensure proper government allocation of land. It became apparent that there were no long-term policies or mechanisms to address the vulnerabilities faced by slum dwellers in Odisha. Communities faced frequent evictions and natural calamities such as cyclones and floods had already devastated their humble dwellings while the city remained apathetic. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that Odisha is one of India’s poorest states, with 37.6% of its urban population living below the poverty line, most visibly manifested in slums which account for 1.56 million people.

Therefore, it was necessary for slum dwellers to come together, become organised and negotiate for basic necessities. Learning from the ‘federating’ experience elsewhere in the country, the Urban and Development Resource Centre was created. Since there was no precedent for such an organisation in Odisha, UDRC worked with the SPARC alliance in its formative years, adapting its model of building voice through slum dwellers federations and women’s savings co-operatives (known as Mahila Milan). NSDF and Mahila Milan have been active in Odisha since 1999 and in West Bengal since 2001. UDRC was formally established in 2008 by professionals who have worked with the federations and Mahila Milan (Grass roots networks) since they began to feel the need for a new organizational structure to accommodate their agenda and process.

PEOPLE

 

Team

Monalisa Mohanty, Director

Vincent Davis, Technical Expert (Architecture & City Planning Operations)

Sujit Patri, Office and Data Management Expert

Sibani Mohanty, Program Coordinator

Bibhu Mangaraj, Project Coordinator

Siba Shankar Dash, City Coordinator-Berhampur

Manoja Manjari Chahatray, City Coordinator-Bhubaneswar

Aswini Tripathy, Documentation Consultant

Sidharth Mohanty, Documentation and System Associate

Brajendra Prusty, Field Coordinator

Basant Kumar Samal, Office Supervisor/Surveyor

Trustees

Monalisa Mohanty, Development Professional, Trainer on Gender & Development, UDRC founder and current head

Biranchi Upadhyaya, Development Professional & Regional Director, Southeast Asia-Hivos

Anindita Das, Health and Development Professional


Invitees from Community Federation and Staff

Sujit Patri, UDRC Staff, Data and Office Management expert

Sephali Pradhan, Slum Federation Representative

Mamata Sahu, Community Network Leader

Advisors

Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd.)

Bashabi Dasgupta, Faculty Department of Architecture at SPA Delhi, Practising Architect on sustainable innovations

Barsha Poricha, Programme Director, National Foundation for India


COLLABORATIONS




NGO/Civil Society Networks

Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)

Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centre (SPARC)

Odisha Environment Congress

Odishaa Swaschh Manch

Odisha Development Action Groups

Architecture Sans Frontieres (ASF), Sweden

Academic/Internship Linkages

Architecture Sans Frontieres (ASF),

Sweden Oxford Brookes University, U.K.

Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai

IIMT (Indian Institute of Mineral Technology), Bhubaneswar

Piloo Mody Architecture College, Cuttack

Indian Institute of Human Settlements

Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT)

Lovely College of Engineering, Punjab

Sustainable Emergency Architecture,

International University of Catalynya, Barcelona

HUDCO (HSMI)

Government Partnerships

Government of Odisha, Housing & UD department

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation

Berhampur Municipal Corporation

Puri-Konark Development Authority

Rourkela Municipal Corporation

Cuttack Municipal Corporation

Cuttack Collectorate

Paradeep Port Trust