The Odisha Alliance is a partnership involving the NGO Urban Development Resource Centre (UDRC), the grassroots women’s organisation Mahila Milan, the Odisha/National Slum Dwellers’ Federation (O/NSDF) and the Society of Promotion of Area Resources Centre (Sparc) – in 225 settlements in five cities of the state of Odisha and in three cities in the state of West Bengal. The Alliance’s project benefits the bottom 30 per cent of the economic pyramid of city dwellers who live in informal settlements, focusing on the community-led development of model houses that are affordable and adapted to local needs, as a basis for negotiating with government actors. These models act as ‘precedents’, demonstrating that slum dwellers can be the agents of their own development, while providing solutions that can be scaled up. The initiative is ongoing with many schemes at different stages of development. Sixty model houses have been built and two government programmes are running, with 400 additional houses currently under construction.