Bala Janaagraha - Our City Our Challenge

Bala Janaagraha is the civic learning initiative of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, launched in 2002 with the goal of transforming children in urban India into informed, responsible, and active citizens. Through a specially developed curriculum, the program gives students hands-on involvement with civic issues their neighbourhoods face today, replacing bookish civics instruction with project-based, design-thinking led learning.

The core curriculum is delivered primarily to students of Class 8 in government, aided, and private unaided schools, combining classroom sessions with structured project work. Themes covered include climate change, sanitation, gender, road safety, waste management, water and electricity, and urban governance. Students learn to look beyond symptoms of civic problems, examine root causes, and engage with local stakeholders and community members.

Student teams choose a local civic issue, conduct field engagement, apply design thinking to develop an actionable solution, document their journey, and submit their project. Shortlisted teams progress through city-level Civic Fests to the National Civic Fest, where finalists present their work to a panel of public officials, educators, and civic leaders.

Over more than two decades the initiative has engaged 480,596 children, trained 1,200 educators, supported 26,980 hyper-local solutions, and reached 800 schools across 26 cities, with 11,690 students participating in annual Civic Fests.