Just 18 years old, Mishti has been married for four years. Living under a railway bridge with her husband and three-year-old daughter in Calcutta, life here is perilous. But for the moment the family has no other choice.

Mishti became a 14-year-old bride because her family was too poor to feed her. In search of someone who could better care for her, Mishti’s parents found Sonu, a man in his twenties who lived in a nearby village with his father. The match seemed like a good one.

However when Sonu’s father died suddenly, the bride and groom discovered he owed a great deal of money. They had to sell the family home to pay the debt. Newly pregnant, Mishti and Sonu were left with nothing so they migrated to Calcutta in search of work.

The transition was a shock. With little education and few skills, neither could find a wage-paying job. And although both have micro-enterprises that earn about a dollar a day, the higher cost of living in calcutta prevents them from renting a stable home.

While Sonu transports goods on a pushcart, Mishti makes flower garlands and sells them to passing motorists. She has learned to keep her daughter, Jaya, close by as she displays the flowers in her arms. Access to credit and savings could help the couple grow businesses, but they are too poor to qualify for these programs.

For now they are hungry and fearful. At night, drunken men often harass them and threaten to take their few possessions. Their only access to clean water is purchased from street vendors and they must pay a fee to use the public restroom.

On the margin of survival, Mishti and Sonu have no way to absorb a shock. If Sonu’s pushcart were stolen or Jaya needed medicine, they would have no savings to cover the cost. Mishti is frightened for the future. If they cannot care properly for Jaya, they will have to look for a husband for her while she is still an adolescent.

The Context

In a large city like Calcutta, extremely poor people like Mishti, Sonu and Jaya become invisible. They are surrounded by prosperity but have no way to participate in it. Medical care, markets, schools and housing are nearby, but extremely poor people are barred from accessing these services because they have no money.

The rural poor often migrate to cities in search of work – many in the hope they might earn enough to send remittances back to their families. The choice appears to make sense: 80% of the world’s goods and services are produced in urban areas.¹ But competition for wage-paying jobs can be intense and the cost of living is much higher. The rural poor arrive with no social network to help them integrate or gain the new skills necessary to adapt.

The best option for housing is often a slum. The global population of city slums now exceeds 830 million.² In these acutely crowded areas, sanitation and access to clean water are inadequate. The people living in slums suffer the stress of high crime rates, the threat of eviction, and poor quality housing.

With better access to markets and potential customers, micro-enterprises could flourish in city settings. However, microcredit opportunities here are few. What is earned is often directed to the purchase of food because it is impossible to grow food in the city.

Urban poverty affects women and girls most severely. They earn less than men and limited education and skills make them vulnerable to slavery, including sex trafficking. The generational ties and social networks found so commonly in village life are absent here and exacerbate the loneliness of their poverty.

Faced with unrelenting deprivation, families often try to find husbands for their teenaged daughters. Frequent pregnancies, malnutrition, ill-health and a lack of decision-making power within the family perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

Our Approach

More than half the world’s population now lives in cities and towns, according to UNFPA. By 2030, this number is expected to swell to five billion.³ Interventions must reach those hidden in the shadows where urban prosperity is passing them by. Having come to the city seeking opportunity, the urban poor need services that offer education, training, access to microfinance, improved housing and access to medical care. Battery Powered wants to support interventions that directly address these issues.

Build Strong Livelihoods

Strengthening skills and creating greater, more varied employment and income-generating activities can support people’s self-help efforts to alleviate poverty by offering:

• Low cost, convenient vocational training and skill development to enhance employability and eligibility for higher paying jobs
• Microenterprise training to diversify incomes
• Increased access to microfinance including credit, savings and insurance

Expand Access

Interventions must expand access to vital services to improve health, security and prosperity, including:

• Adequate and affordable housing
• Clean water, sanitation and affordable energy
• Medical care

Promote Social Inclusion

Through strategies that promote social inclusion, marginalized people can become part of communities and access the support of those communities to expand rights, ease shocks and reduce isolation. These services could offer:

• Campaigns to reform rights related to property tenure and housing
• Create greater educational opportunities and economic integration, particularly for women to reduce vulnerability to sex trafficking and other forms of slavery
• Form social networks among groups with common goals such as those with complementary enterprise activities or savings groups

Read next topic:
Displacement Poverty →