Catalysing Systemic Reform at Every Level 

SUTRA — the State Urban Transformation Agenda — is Janaagraha's model for state-level urban transformation. It is customised to local contexts, developed in close partnership with the state, and owned by the state government. As a holistic and integrated model, it works across city-systems to deliver outcomes in climate, health, and equity. 

SUTRA balances project delivery with systemic reform, meeting the immediate goals of the state while pursuing long-term city-systems transformation. It aligns multiple funding sources toward common goals, enabling convergence across schemes and departments rather than fragmented, siloed interventions. 

Central to the model are participatory instruments — City Action Plans and Neighbourhood Improvement Plans — that ensure planning is informed by the needs of citizens and that governance is responsive to local realities. SUTRA adopts a differentiated approach to planning, finance, and governance, recognising that cities of different sizes and types require distinct solutions. 

Janaagraha serves as anchor partner — co-designing the programme with state governments, convening ecosystem partners, and providing technical assistance for state-level reforms and lighthouse projects. 

Assam is India's most climate-vulnerable state, home to 15 of the country's 25 most climate-exposed districts. With only 14.1% of its population in cities, the state has an opportunity to build climate-resilient city-systems from the ground up.  

Janaagraha and our sister organisation Jana Urban Space Foundation serve as anchor partners for Doh Shaher Ek Rupayan (DSER), the Government of Assam's programme to transform ten cities through governance reforms and infrastructure delivery. City Action Plans — co-created with communities across all ten cities — form the operational core, aligning departments and funding around citizen-identified priorities.  

Our work also includes state-wide reforms in public finance management and organisational development. Two new state-level institutions — ASIUD for urban infrastructure and AUIDFCL for urban financing — have been established through DSER. The North Lakhimpur Urban Forest, a flagship project under the programme, demonstrates a replicable model for climate-resilient public spaces. 

Janaagraha has partnered with the Government of Odisha since 2019 to strengthen city-systems across all 115 cities in the state. 

Under the Jaga Mission, the Government of Odisha set out to transform 2,900+ slums and empower 1.7 million urban poor residents who had long been excluded from the development of their cities. Janaagraha supported the institutionalisation of approximately 3,000 Slum Dwellers Associations (SDAs) as the fourth tier of urban governance, building the capacity of over 9,000 members to govern their communities, advocate for their needs, and work with civic authorities. More than 1,684 slums have been upgraded and reclassified as Adarsh Colonies, with over 2 lakh families gaining improved infrastructure and services. 

To strengthen financial accountability and institutional capacity, we built a digital grants management dashboard bringing transparency to over INR 3,300 crore in public expenditure, and developed competency-based frameworks for 3,000 municipal positions. 

In May 2025, the Government of Odisha and Janaagraha signed an MoU for ANKUR — a platform convening partners working on urban development across the state to enable coordinated action for sustained reform. 

Building effective urban governance in India's smaller cities and towns is both urgent and consequential — particularly for public health, where access and prevention remain critical. 

Janaagraha serves as governance partner for the Government of Uttar Pradesh's Aspirational Cities Programme (ACP), also known as Akankshi Nagar Yojana (ANY). The programme focuses on 100 cities and towns with populations between 20,000 and 1,00,000.  We are supporting the development of City Action Plans across these small cities and towns — advancing place-based governance with a particular focus on public health outcomes. Pilots are currently under way in five towns. 

Under CM GRIDS, our sister organisation Jana Urban Space Foundation is strengthening road infrastructure and public spaces across 17 municipal corporations through 290 km of urban roads.