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Saamuhika Shakti

@saamuhikashakti

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In Solidarity with Waste Pickers • Working with Bengaluru's informal waste pickers to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives

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On September 24, at BLR Design Week 2026, Agency Beyond the Margins, a film by @hasiru_dala supported by Saamuhika Shakti, explored how waste pickers transform individual agency into collective power through recognition, leadership and collective action. The film highlighted how access to identity, the confidence to speak up and the strength of collective organising enable waste pickers to assert their rights, represent their concerns and shape decisions that affect their livelihoods.

The conversation connected lived experiences with broader questions of governance, caste, class, gender and environmental justice, emphasising that lasting change requires systems that recognise and support workers’ agency.

🔗 Watch the film: https://youtu.be/z6JWBcJafVA?si=SWrSBzV4f5lN6VPV by @saamuhikashakti

Look closely at the foundations of a sustainable future, and you will find an informal economy built on decades of knowledge, skill and enterprise.

Waste workers are the architects of the circular economy, bringing years of practical experience that can shape how textile circularity grows.

Meet Krishna, Indumati and Sujitha. Their journeys show how experience within the waste sector can grow into entrepreneurship, ownership and community leadership.

Every entrepreneur who emerges from this ecosystem creates a ripple effect:

📈Livelihoods scale up: Turning day-to-day uncertainty into structured, growing incomes.

🏢Businesses take shape: Creating local infrastructure
that strengthens the entire recovery chain.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏻Community pathways open: Making room for more
people to find their footing in the formal sector.

Imagine how many more such journeys could unfold if more waste workers had the support and opportunity to create something of their own.

It’s time these entrepreneurial journeys became a bigger part of the story we tell about textile circularity.

@saamuhikashakti | @hasiru_dala | @greenworms_

#circulareconomy #wasteworkers #livelihoods #entrepreneur by @saamuhikashakti

Understanding health risks and making informed healthcare decisions are essential to protecting community well-being. In September, Saamuhika Shakti partner @hasiru_dala conducted a session during the monthly waste pickers’ meeting at JC Road with 32 participants, highlighting the importance of patient safety, early detection and regular monitoring of non-communicable diseases and the responsible use of antibiotics to prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Through interactive activities, puzzles and games, participants explored practical ways to protect their health and use medicines responsibly. by @saamuhikashakti

Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy, co-founder and CEO of Sattva Consulting, spent the last two days in Stockholm at H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award 2026, and it was a privilege to be there. The Award backs changemakers who are tackling some of the textile industry’s biggest challenges, a reminder that change starts with people willing to challenge the status quo. He had the opportunity to present a session on collaboration, “Why collaboration breaks: The friction, tensions and human dynamics that get in the way.”

His session drew largely on Sattva’s experience of working with various stakeholders, from 3 to 100+ partners and diverse collective action models, and outlined five fault lines that contribute to stalled partnerships:

1. Teams often make the first wrong move with the right intent. They underestimate the time needed to understand the system at hand. Under pressure to show results, a plan looks like progress and understanding looks like delay.

2. The people who will carry the work, and the people who will live with it, are rarely part of shaping it.

3. Organisations are expected to collaborate without the backbone structure, such as a funded coordination role, that makes it possible.

4. Everyone in the room is committed to collaboration, but their institutions may not be equipped for it. Decisions pass through multiple layers of management, and the collaboration stalls. So check organisational mandate and machinery, not just commitment.

5. Hold yourself to the standard you set for your partners. We ask ten organisations to work as one, so funders should ask whether they share a reporting format or a data platform themselves.

Collaboration doesn’t succeed on intent alone. It takes the right conditions, structures and behaviours to turn a shared ambition into collective impact.

#GlobalChangeAward #CollectiveImpact #SystemsChange #Collaboration #GCA2026 by @saamuhikashakti

Our partner @bbcmaindia, in collaboration with @gaia_zerowaste (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), convened a panel at the UN Business and Human Rights Forum in Bangkok, “From Invisible to Invaluable: Reuse, Recovery and the Workers Holding Circularity Together”, moderated by Dr Harpreet Kaur, Asia-Pacific Lead, Business and Human Rights, @undp.

The discussion highlighted the contributions of informal waste workers to circular economy systems and underscored the importance of cross-sector collaboration to strengthen their recognition, inclusion, and livelihoods.

The panel featured Nalini Shekar, Co-founder and Director, @hasiru_dala; Indumathi, waste picker turned entrepreneur from Bengaluru; Maria Bystedt, Program Director, @hmfoundation; Arpita B., Plastic Policy Officer, GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives); Salisa Traipipitsiriwat, Senior Campaigner and Southeast Asia Plastics Project Manager, @ejfoundation (EJF) and Varinder Kaur Gambhir, Country Director, India, BBC Media Action. by @saamuhikashakti

Today, at @hmfoundation’s Global Change Award 2026 in Stockholm, @sattva.india’s Co-founder and CEO Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy (Krishna) and Saamuhika Shakti’s Communications Director Zibi Jamal brought their experience of collective impact and multi-stakeholder collaboration to two sessions exploring the challenges and possibilities of working together for change.

🔹 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆

Krishna explored why collaborations can falter despite good intentions, drawing on his experience of working at the centre of complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships.

🔹 𝗨𝗻𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱: 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀

Zibi, representing Saamuhika Shakti, joined Ainee Islam of Oporajita - Collective Impact on Future of Work, The Asia Foundation for a discussion moderated by Fernanda Drumond of the H&M Foundation. The session explored how shared agendas, trust, clear roles and continuous coordination help diverse stakeholders work towards a common goal.

Both conversations drew on learnings from complex collaborations, including Saamuhika Shakti, a collective impact initiative in Bengaluru where multiple implementing organisations work together to enable informal waste pickers to lead more secure and dignified lives with greater agency.

Initiated and funded by the H&M Foundation, Saamuhika Shakti is the first initiative of its kind in India, with Sattva Consulting serving as its backbone organisation.

Looking forward to Day 2 of the Global Change Award and more meaningful conversations, connections and interactions on advancing collaboration and collective action for lasting change.

#GlobalChangeAward #CollectiveImpact #SystemsChange #Collaboration #GCA2026 by @saamuhikashakti

Every child deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, dream and enjoy a safe and happy childhood.

On the Balya Amulya Initiative by Radio Active 90.4 MHz, Keerthana, a student shares an inspiring story of how washroom cleanliness was addressed by sharing a simple suggestion through the suggestion boxes installed in schools by Saamuhika Shakti partner @sparsha_trust_. Her story highlights how children having a platform to voice their concerns can help improve infrastructure and create meaningful change in schools.

🎧 Listen to the podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/radioactivecr90-4mhz/balya-amulya-student-keerthana by @saamuhikashakti

WASH infrastructure alone cannot deliver lasting change. In this blog by our partner @wateraidindia, Arjun Kakkat explores why urban public health campaigns must go beyond awareness to reinforce behaviours, build community ownership and sustain the impact of investments in water, sanitation and waste management.

Drawing on behaviour change initiatives and Saamuhika Shakti’s work with waste-picker communities in Bengaluru, he makes the case for treating behaviour change as an essential part of urban development, helping communities and institutions work together to create healthier, more inclusive and resilient cities.

Read the full blog in the comments. by @saamuhikashakti

What does it take to make evaluation work in a complex, multi-partner programme?

At Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Asian Evaluation Week 2026, Dr Chandan Jain, Senior Evaluation Specialist at @3ieimpact, joined a panel with NITI Aayog, UNICEF and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to discuss challenges and approaches to building robust data systems for large-scale evaluations.

Drawing on 3ie’s evaluation of Saamuhika Shakti, Dr Chandan shared learnings from evaluating a multi-partner initiative, highlighting the complexities of working across partners and contexts.

The discussion surfaced several challenges in evaluation practice, including standardisation, capacity building, fragmentation and the ethics of data collection.

Sneha Venu, Research Associate at 3ie, participated in the Evidence Marketplace, presenting a poster on lessons from an evaluation in informal settlements in urban India, focusing on the challenges encountered and what worked.

For Saamuhika Shakti, a key strength has been the #collaborative approach among partners, which has helped embed monitoring and data systems within implementation. At the same time, evaluating a multi-partner programme requires close collaboration, a shared commitment to the learning agenda and adherence to common evaluation protocols.

A key takeaway from #AEW2026: Co-create learning agendas early with partners and embed them in implementation.
This experience reinforces the importance of building not only robust evaluation approaches, but also the collaborative systems and shared commitment needed to make learning meaningful across a multi-partner initiative.

Read Dr Chandan Jain’s reflections on #AEW2026 here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chandanjain_aew-asianevaluationweek-ugcPost-7505684938805989376-jCzw/ by @saamuhikashakti

An ordinary day at work can hold years of experience, even in the moments we might not think twice about.

For waste workers, this experience builds over time, through familiar routines, the small decisions they make, and the judgement they develop from working with textiles day after day. It lives in the details they notice, the choices they make, and the knowledge they carry into each working day.

At Enviu Textiles, we believe understanding circularity means understanding the people who shape it through their everyday work.

Through our work connected to @saamuhikashakti and @circularapparel, we recognise the vital role waste workers play in textile recovery, from handling discarded materials to helping create pathways for their continued use.

Take a closer look at the people behind textile recovery, and what their years of experience can teach us about recognising the value in textile waste.

#textilecircularity #textilerecovery #socialinclusion by @saamuhikashakti

On July 29, Saamuhika Shakti and @sattva.india hosted the fourth session of the #CollabMatters webinar series, focusing on “Measuring What Matters: The Role of Evidence in Collective Action.” The session explored how collective impact initiatives can build effective measurement and evidence systems to understand progress, evaluate collaboration quality and inform strategic decision-making.

From measuring the quality of collaboration to building trust around data and ensuring evidence informs real-time decisions, the conversation surfaced several lessons for collectives at different stages of their journey.

The session was moderated by Arjun Bahadur, then Principal, Sattva Consulting and Executive Director, Saamuhika Shakti, in conversation with Dr Chandan Jain, Senior Evaluation Specialist, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie); Dr Marianne McPherson, Founder & Principal, McPherson Collaborative; and Shantanu Dubey, MEL Lead, Saamuhika Shakti, Sattva Consulting.

🎥 Watch the webinar recording and read the key takeaways here: https://www.saamuhikashakti.org/events/measuring-what-matters-the-role-of-evidence-in-collective-action by @saamuhikashakti