HUL collaborates with HSBC India & BMC to unveil one of India’s largest community hygiene centres at Dharavi

An increase in urbanization across the world, will continue to trigger the need for safe community hygiene centres, offering citizens accessible sanitation facilities wherever they choose to live. It has been estimated that by 2030, 1 in 4 people in the world will be living in informal settlements, further demonstrating the need to proportionately scale up infrastructure.
Public-private partnerships allow purpose-driven organizations to partner with the government in developing public sector projects. Such partnerships also ensure increased efficiency in project delivery and management, ultimately creating large-scale community impact by leveraging the best of both worlds.
Dharavi becomes home to India's largest Suvidha centre
Hindustan Unilever, HSBC India and BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) have collaborated to give the city its 7th and largest Suvidha centre yet, this time in Dharavi. This urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre is an initiative to supplement the government’s efforts to offer safe sanitation and quality standard of living to all citizens. The new Suvidha centre ensures clean washroom facilities, affordable drinking water, and state-of-the-art laundry services for the extensive Dharavi community. This is the latest facility under Suvidha, which is a holistic model that aims to be affordable, sustainable and scalable.
The new Suvidha centre offers several amenities at affordable rates including the following:
● Clean toilets and handwash facilities
● Purified drinking water
● Washing machine and laundry services
● Showers for bathing

The Dharavi Suvidha centre will ensure that the community in the catchment areas of the facility, particularly the women, have access to a safe and dignified facility. The centre will be well-lit and equipped with panic buttons connected to the main alarm.
Sustainable at the core
The centre is powered by solar energy and will also focus on water conservation. The centre has been built to treat and reuse grey water for the community toilets. Additionally, rainwater harvesting techniques and re-usage of treated wastewater will save an estimated 6.5 million litres of water every year.
The model strives to encourage sustainable behaviour shift among users. To accomplish this purpose, the community will be engaged in understanding the importance of eating nutritious food, washing their hands regularly, hygienically disposing off their sanitary products, etc.

Driving impact at scale
The Suvidha centres have been able to drive a significant social impact. The centres will provide water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to nearly 2,00,000 women, children, and men, including people with disabilities in Mumbai every year. The programme is on track to save 35 million litres of water annually. The newest Dharavi centre will significantly scale up the impact with its 111 toilets, alone catering to over 50,000 users and saving 6.5 million litres of fresh water every year.
The centers, created as an outcome of the public-private partnership between Hindustan Unilever, HSBC, and MCGM, aim to help communities lead better lives. They foster a collective sense of responsibility alongside togetherness and pride since the members of the community are involved in running the centres themselves in different capacities.
The Suvidha model is here to stay and empower locals in various parts of the city to overcome the hassles caused by rapid urbanisation - a decisive step in the right direction.
Disclaimer: This article has been produced on behalf of Hindustan Unilever by Times Internet’s Spotlight team.