20 Years of Tending
to India’s Cities
Janaagraha began as a movement to promote participatory democracy at the neighbourhood level. We 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.
We 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.
Our 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.
Journey
Janaagraha was founded in December 2001 by Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan. The duo’s contrasting experiences as citizens in Indian and global cities inspired them to pioneer citizen participation and urban governance reforms in India.
Journey
Janaagraha was founded in December 2001 by Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan. The duo’s contrasting experiences as citizens in Indian and global cities inspired them to pioneer citizen participation and urban governance reforms in India.
20 YEARS OF JANAAGRAHA
People of Janaagraha
Janaagraha is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. We embrace and encourage our teams’ differences in age, colour, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make each one of them unique.
Partners
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
Odisha Government
Solapur Municipal Corporation
Election commission of India
Corporation of the City of Panaji
Government of Maharashtra
Haryana Public Service Commission
Greater Vishakapatnam Municipal Corporation
Finance Commission of India
Government of Tamilnadu
Reall Company, UK
Government of Chattisgad
Coimbatore Municipal Corporation
Brown university
Mangaluru City Corporation
Municipal Corporation of Faridabad
Municipal Corporation of Gurugram
Nagara Palika Nigam Raipur
Directorate of Municipal Administration of Tamilnadu
Karnataka Ward Samiti Balaga
Founded in 2001, the Jana Group is working towards the mission of fixing India’s cities through its various initiatives. These include citizen participation and governance reforms (through Janaagraha), city planning and design (through Jana Urban Space Foundation), affordable housing for the urban poor (through Janaadhar), banking and financial services for the urban poor (through Jana Small Finance Bank).
Annual Report
Janaagraha is registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. We regularly publish our annual reports, audited financial statements, and summaries of foreign contributions.