Our motivation | Citizen University

The challenge

Indian cities face an uphill battle with managing urban development due to rapid urban growth, deepening environmental degradation and climate change. Government cannot solve this alone. This nation-wide challenge requires greater societal engagement from us all as urban residents.

Yet, currently, engaged citizens face many hurdles in understanding the sector, accessing technical knowledge and navigating the opaque governance systems. This results in a lot of wasted time and resources. To solve the civic and environmental issues at scale, we need ‘Active Citizens’ in every neighbourhood & civic literacy in every home! The question is - how do we support and encourage citizens in their journey toward Active Citizenship?

Why Citizen University?

In solving civic issues, everyone shouldn’t have to start from zero, there already exist tried and tested methods
Most people find city issues too opaque and complex, seeing-and learning first hand is vital to developing a sense of agency
So much enthusiasm, energy and efforts are wasted; peer to peer learning can help unlock a wealth of knowledge
Evidence building is critical to build consensus around problems. A plethora of open data tools exist that can be used to make this easier, faster and more transparent / inclusive
We don’t always need a large number of people to cause change. In Margaret Mead’s words - ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world’