The Ahmedabad Study Action Group is a voluntary and non-profit organization set up in 1971 and run by young professionals working on settlement planning, housing, rural development, renewable energy sources, project consultancy and policy research.



Objectives: 1] to promote housing activity in the development context; [2] to reduce the cost of housing for the urban and rural poor; [3] to enhance institutional capacity for meeting the housing and development requirements of the urban and rural poor so that investments and policies are effectively channelled to those in need; [4] to link investment in housing to other developmental objectives by dovetailing educational, motivational, social, economic and environmental inputs with those of construction; [5] to educate the community in new health practices by improving their environment and by introducing new elements [e.g., toilets, smokeless chullahs, gobar gas plants] into their daily lives; [6] to facilitate the community`s efforts to obtain the necessary inputs and services from the government and other sources for improving the quality of life; [7] to solicit active community participation for identifying felt needs, defining priorities, designing strategies and organizing collective action which may help the people meet their own needs; [8] to sustain the tempo of growth change and development initiated through external intervention by helping to build social solidarity; [9] to extend technical and resource support for creating job opportunities and gainful employment in order to ensure the economic viability of the housing programmes; and [10] to advocate for policies, projects and approaches which benefit the client communities. In the human settlements field, ASAG designed and built 10,000 low cost houses in more than 60 settlements in urban, rural and tribal areas of Gujarat. Their involvement has been in advocacy; resource mobilization; participatory design, planning and construction; materials construction; and community organization. ASAG is also involved in rural reconstruction, slum rehabilitation, flood rehabilitation, integrated urban and area development, resettlement and self-help projects.