Janaagraha began as a movement to promote participatory democracy at the neighbourhood level. They soon discovered, however, that citizen participation alone was not enough.

Governments must also be equipped to deliver infrastructure and services, build their own capacity through training and technology, fully empower elected leaders, and ensure high standards of accountability and transparency.

They then adopted a two-track approach: resolving issues on services and infrastructure through participation, even as we worked to reform the systems that delivered them.

Their learnings and experiences shaped our thinking and led to the development of the City-Systems framework.

MISSION

Janaagraha’s mission is to work with citizens and governments to transform the ‘quality of life’ in India’s cities and towns. The term ‘quality of life’ as defined by Janaagraha has two dimensions. The first is the ‘quality of urban infrastructure and services,’ that is, roads, drains, transport, water supply, etc. The second is the ‘quality of citizenship’ – that is, the role that urban citizens can play by participating in civic matters.