Around 1.77 million that is, 0.15% of India’s population are homeless according to the 2011 census. This includes the elderly, single men and women, mothers, and children of all ages. Business & Community Foundation (BCF) has long been supporting the work of the homeless residents/City Makers of Delhi since 1999. Its Director has been part of the homeless work since 1999 and has been giving legal support for this cause in the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India. BCF’s approach has been to work as a team with other networks and non-profits and create synergies by bringing newer agencies to grapple with complex protracted issues. This is not an issue on which only one group can or should work, many partners are better than a few. It requires a holistic approach and the support of a large number of agencies and organisations. BCF has been one of the NPOs that work towards such a platform to facilitate rights through collectivization, collaboration, and legal systems.

The seeding of support to the homeless work - 2010 Onwards
Right from nurturing the work, BCF has been instrumental in supporting the formation of one of the first homeless Non-Profit Organisation (NPO)/ Voluntary Organisation (VO) in the country: Beghar Foundation (BF) in 2010, with its office bearers amongst the homeless themselves. The core belief of BCF has been that the impacted, affected, and survivors of the streets are the people who should lead the interventions. It should not be left for others to do what can be done by the agency of the homeless. The support of others is required, but as mentors and facilitators, not as leaders. BCF did support BF, through Housing and Land Rights Network, in the initial days until they continued with other networks. BCF also supported St. Stephen’s Hospital’s work with the homeless, through its MNGO, in 2010. To work on health, entitlements, etc.
BCF guided the first effective network of NPOs working with the homeless: Sahari Adhikar Manch: Begharon Ke Saath (SAM; BKS), being an Executive Committee Member, of it since 2008.
Women's Collective (2018 - 2019)4Around 2018 BCF came up with the idea of developing a women’s collective, in partnership with Society for Promotion Among Youth and Masses (SPYM) comprising homeless women. This was done to develop their agency and leadership to contribute to the advancement of their community. Out of a group of around 50 women, 10 were selected who had leadership skills. A stipend was given to each of them and they went through a series of training in leadership, team building, conflict resolution, English language speaking, etc. Today, most of them are gainfully employed as shelter coordinators and caretakers. This was supported for a three-year period with HelpAge India’s support and Arjun Lamba as a donor.

June 2019 The Homeless Women’s Convention (residents of shelters) was attended by 130 homeless women. The Chief Secretary of Delhi, Mr. Vijay Dev addressed the women who then presented their demands in a written memorandum. This was organised in Delhi by BCF with NFIW, a six decades old national women’s organisation.

Partnership Between SPYM & BCF
(BCF assisted)
3The Homeless Women’s Collective was started in Delhi in the year 2018 with the objective to develop leadership among homeless women, prepare them to demand their entitlements from the government, link them with employment opportunities, etc. With the support of BCF, SPYM identified around 50 homeless women exhibiting leadership skills to work on mobilizing similar street and shelter-based women in their areas and facilitated their linkage with government entitlements, as well as other basic health and social services. Ten women selected were provided a monthly honorarium; others were volunteers.
Some of the activities with the help of BCF are given below:
Training of women in Heritage Walk with Sahapedia
Spoken English Classes for women with In-lingua
Basic Computer Education in Nizamuddin and Sarai Kale Khan shelters. Computers have been given by DEF
Engagement of women’s collective for Winter Rescue Drive.

Women Heritage / Food Guides
BCF in 2020 - 2021 started training 10 girls from the homeless shelters in Jama Masjid, with the support of Farheen Naaz and her platforms: Purani Dilli Walon Ki Baatein / We the Change. The idea was to have them as heritage and food guides in the Old City of Delhi. Farheen Naaz, from We The Change and Purani Dilli Walon Ki Baatein notes, “Capitalising on India’s rich culture and history, the Food Walk Program enables homeless women to conduct walks in historical places with a thriving culture.
Quite a few of them have got trained and are using their newly learned skills for enhancing their economic base. They were given certificates by the Special Secretary WCD, GNCTD, Dr. Rashmi Singh.
Community Information Resource Centres (CIRC) in Shelters The Community Information Resource Centres (CIRCs) are community-oriented robust platforms built to create information-empowered, equitable communities across the length and breadth of the country. These technology hubs aim to facilitate unrestricted digital access to knowledge, along with network support with provisions of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services to serve the information-deprived corners of the country. By creating a holistic environment that enables skill development and capacity building, CIRC has been acting as a dynamic step taken to achieve complete digital inclusion and hence partner in achieving the vision of digital India.
Through computers donated by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), BCF initiated establishing two CIRCs in homeless shelters (Sarai Kale Khan, Nizamuddin) which would offer a replicable model, in the future where Government can also adopt the same to set up similar Centres in all the Homeless Shelters to ensure access to technology and entitlements. The teachers are supported by ETP Pvt. Ltd.
Heritage Walks 2019-2021 Heritage walk training was conducted for women in collaboration with Sahapedia in Delhi and Virasat Experience in Jaipur. This was envisaged as a self-employed part-time program that can give women a dignified income. The women after the training can conduct walks on their own and earn while studying or doing other work as night guards and caretakers, etc. In Delhi, Shelter
Residents were taken into the program, and in Jaipur women from economically weaker segments were selected through the "Centre of Equity Studies (CES)”. Despite the dropout rate, about 30% of the trainees can conduct independent walks and continue to work as walk leaders in Delhi and Jaipur.
1st Batch of Heritage Walker Trainees, New Delhi (2019) A training for Heritage walkers was conducted in collaboration with Sahapedia. The first batch consisted of 13 women, out of which 10 were from homeless shelters. The program aimed to make women self-sufficient by conducting heritage walks of their own. The trainees were taught the history of the monuments, building narratives, how to lead walks, and how to design those walks. There were two trials conducted for each trainee when their mentor was present. After the completion of the training in July certificates was distributed in collaboration with Sahapedia and walks were conducted.

2nd Batch of Heritage Walker Trainees, New Delhi (2020)Twenty homeless women staying at shelter homes were trained as heritage walkers in collaboration with Sahapedia and Taj group in Delhi over two weeks including classroom sessions, practical walks by experts, and communication and feedback sessions.

3rd Batch of Heritage Walker Trainees, Jaipur (2021) Completed the training and distributed the certificates and stipends of the third batch of 15 trainees in Jaipur in partnership with Sahapedia, CES, and Virasat Experience supported by Rajasthan Royals. On March 8th walks were organized in Delhi and Jaipur and these are ongoing activities.

Spoken English Course (2019) In partnership with Lingua, we conducted a month-long basic spoken English course for 15 women trainees from homeless shelters, from August 1 to September 6. The program aimed to make the trainees converse in English in any given situation so that they can earn a better living as heritage guides and communicate better.

2nd Batch of Spoken English Course (2019) A month-long spoken English course, from November 15 to December 15, was conducted in collaboration with Lingua at Connaught Place, New Delhi, for 15 trainees for part-time classes.