Dasra and Janaagraha Centre For Citizenship & Democracy highlight the significance of leadership building for city councillors with a focus on women councillors

Dasra,strategic philanthropy organisation, with Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship & Democracy organised a joint session Dare to Lead: Empowering Local Women Leaders for Inclusive Cities during the 13th edition of Dasra Philanthropy Week. The session focused on the transformative impact that women councillors have in the socio-economic development of cities in India. The session witnessed participation fromAaditya Thackery(Cabinet Minister),Prof.MV Rajeev Gowda (Ex-Member of Parliament, Chairman, AICC Research), M Anil Kumar(Mayor, Kochi – CPIM), Parveen Bhanu (Former Councillor, Bellari – INC), PayalKishorbhaiSakariya (Councillor, Surat Municipal Corporation), Rohan Chandel (Councillor, Dehradun Municipal Corporation) and Dhanya Rajendran(Journalist and Co-Founder, The News Minute), who moderated the session.

During the session, Aaditya Thackeray, Cabinet Minister, Government of Maharashtra, launched the report titled “City Leaders – A Systematic Program to Empower Elected Leaders”, by Janaagraha and Dasra. The report outlines the need for capacity building, the opportunity to build systematic leadership for councillors, and laying the foundation for a leadership development programme with a gender lens.

The session highlighted the much-overlooked challenges which 87,000+ councillors across 4,700+ Indian cities have to face. These councillors are a bridge between citizens and government at the ‘first mile’and in that capacity is the closest to citizens.  Water supply, public transport, housing, safety, health, and sanitation are some of the major issues which they are responsible for addressing. However, these councillors experience challenges in understanding the processes and mechanisms laid out for them.  The City Leaders report finds that 68% of the councillors find their roles are not clearly defined, 43% feel that the information available to them is inadequate to make their case to authorities. Of the total councillors, 46% are women, most of whom face challenges stemming from lack of support from family and society.

Aaditya Thackeray brought to fore the role of councillors, especially women, in the development and resilience of cities and said“When we talk about city development and municipal corporators we need to look at what they can give to the city in terms of sustainable development– which not only includes climate change, but also speaks about urban poverty, gender equality, ensuring upward mobility of the urban poor. I foresee an India that is rapidly moving towards urbanization. Along with infrastructure development, social infrastructure and an inclusive approach are also important. In my experience, wherever there are women councillors, women officers, the development is more inclusive, encompassing the community as a whole. Women who are elected, need to be voices of their own. Women must come forth as politicians – as politics is one field where dreams of millions can be recognized. With them we will see a facet of India which was never seen before.”

Commenting on the significance of building leadership capabilities of women councillors to ensure last-mile service delivery, NeeraNundy,Co-Founder,Dasra, said, “There is a need for inclusive service delivery. The city rests in the hands of city councillors. The need for inclusion is now more pressing than ever. Investing in the inclusion of women in such roles is a small step towards building socially robust and inclusive cities. Encouraging networking amongst women councillors will increase their self-esteem, promote effective leadership, and ultimately lead to an inclusive India.The City Leaders Report has been instrumental in providing evidence that councillors require mechanisms to equip them to provide better governance to their cities. The councillor leadership program is a step towards creating an ecosystem for the systematic leadership building of councillors,and enabling them to tackle impending challenges faced by cities.”

Sharing interesting insights from the City Leaders report, Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janaagraha, said, “We are pleased to take our first steps towards an India Councillor Leadership Program. We really need to meaningfully strengthen the hands of our elected leaders at the first mile, particularly women. Our cities simply cannot become inclusive and safe, and solve 21st century challenges if we don’t empower and enable our city leaders, including ward committee members”

Srinivas Alavilli, Head – Civic Participation, Janaagraha, shed light on the motivations of councillors, “Janaagraha’s City Leaders study clearly established what we already knew – councillors represent the aspirations of our city dwellers and they are hungry for information. They want to know how cities function, how to leverage various schemes to make their wards model wards.  We heard from councillors across India that they are left to learn on their own and on the field and a systematic leadership program is much appreciated. The changing face of municipal councillors of India reflects demographic dividend and by empowering councillors with knowledge and tools we can make great strides in making our cities more inclusive and sustainable.”

The City Leaders Report is the first step towards resolving the larger issue of providing an enabling ecosystem for the capacity building and leadership of councillors. Currently, councillors are not recognized as a unit of governance in India, and therefore disempowered in various ways. A City Leadership Programme which empowers councillors with knowledge and tools in a sustained manner is critical to fixing our cities, and to fight impending global challenges coming our way.With such a programme, city councillors can go beyond winning elections to creating their cities into exemplary models of socio-economic transformation.