Sheela Patel (born 1952) is an activist and academic involved with people living in slums and shanty towns.

SPARC continues to this day to play a major role in the politics of slum development in India and throughout the Third World.

She has founded the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, the Asian Women and Shelter Network and Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), an organisation that works with women's collectives in more than 600 villages in Maharashtra.

[1] Patel is also one of the founders of Slum Dwellers International, a network of community-based organisations in 33 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

2011: Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian honor in India.