Vision
Cities in India occupy a central position for propelling India's vision of becoming "Viksit Bharat" by 2047 since they are contributing 65% to the overall GDP. Over the past two decades, urban development schemes have strengthened municipal capacities through infrastructure development and reforms. However, scheme-specific capacity-building efforts are often limited to aligned specific objectives with focused target group.
Keeping in mind the important role of cities in nation development and learnings gained from legacy capacity building initiatives, the Capacity Building Commission under Mission Karmyogi expanded its reach from central government ministries and departments to ULBs to develop a comprehensive capacity development ecosystem for all the 4800+ Urban Local Bodies, which will eventually lead to improved local governance & service delivery.
Initiative Overview
Target ULBs
Municipal Functionaries
GDP Contribution
Approach
Objectives
Strategic Approach
This initiative presents a strategic opportunity to institutionalize a demand-driven, role-based approach to capacity building across Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in India. It seeks to move beyond traditional training paradigms by fostering a system responsive to the practical and evolving needs of ULBs, thereby supporting the development of a future-ready urban workforce.
Objectives
- Strengthen the overall capacity-building ecosystem by establishing institutional mechanisms, expanding access to high-quality e-learning resources, and ensuring seamless integration with digital platforms.
- Create a network of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to deliver contextualized and role-specific training that aligns with the operational realities of ULBs.
- Build the competencies of ULB officials to enhance last-mile service delivery, transparency, and citizen-centric governance.
- Transition from rule-based to role-based management by identifying key roles within ULB structures and mapping them against domain, functional, and behavioural competencies.
- Support the development of competency-aligned courses and structured learning pathways tailored to equip urban staff with the tools, knowledge, and skills required to deliver inclusive, efficient, and accountable services at the local level.
- Design targeted interventions that empower personnel to perform their responsibilities effectively and accountably.
- Address identified capacity gaps through systematic and scalable capacity building mechanisms.
- Transform ULBs from input-based entities into future-ready institutions that anchor India's vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.
Conceptual Framework
Concept Overview
The Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies initiative under Mission Karmayogi seeks to create a robust, demand-driven, and role-based capacity development ecosystem for over 4800 ULBs in India. Recognising the critical role of cities in driving economic growth and citizen welfare, this initiative moves beyond scheme-specific training to institutionalize structured and scalable mechanisms for enhancing municipal governance and service delivery.
It leverages the iGOT Karmayogi platform to ensure speed, scale, and equitable access to high-quality courses, while simultaneously strengthening the fragmented training ecosystem through standardization, expert networks, and world-class pedagogy. The initiative ultimately aims to empower over 15 lakh municipal functionaries with the functional, domain, and behavioural competencies required to deliver inclusive, transparent, and citizen-centric services.
By integrating technology, performance-linked learning, and a focus on sustainability, the program envisions transforming ULBs from input-based entities into future-ready institutions that anchor India's vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.
Chronology of Events
Pilot Phase Implementation
CBC conducted a pilot for 7 (seven) selected ULBs (Pune, Ahmedabad, NDMC, Nagpur, Rajkot, Mysore and Bhubaneshwar), in collaboration with MOHUA, to tackle the crucial challenge of enhancing the capacity of these ULBs. A set of over 120 areas of skilling in the areas of Administrative & Governance, Technical & Engineering, Technology, Finance, Project Management, Behavioral tracks were identified.
Based on this, the ULBs prepared their Annual Capacity Building Plans (ACBPs) and with assistance prepared job descriptions, competency maps and linked trainings for each Municipal role. CBC is working closely with these ULBs for the time-bound implementation of the ACBPs, with officials leveraging iGOT to undergo training.
The findings suggest that a large number of behavioral, functional and domain competencies are common across all ULBs, so the development of digital courses and training programs can be started right away since they can be applied to all ULBs. The pilot suggests that a demand-driven, bottom-up, role-based capacity building approach will have a sustainable impact on municipal performance.
Challenges Identified
Outcomes Defined Based on Learnings
Key Milestones
7 Annual Capacity Building Plans (ACBPs) Prepared and Approved
The following Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have finalised and received approval for their ACBPs:
Key Achievements
Platform Onboarding
Over 1,55,000+ ULB officials have been successfully onboarded onto the iGOT Karmayogi Bharat platform, with more in the process of joining.
Course Development
A total of 154 curated courses is currently available on iGOT for ULB officials, including:
22 domain-specific courses have been launched on iGOT, and 13 more high-impact courses are currently under development. The courses launched so far have received an average user rating of 4.3 stars.
State-Level Workshops
5 state-level workshops on "Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies under Mission Karmayogi" were successfully organized:
Representatives from 1200+ ULBs participated in the above workshops.
Framework Development
Identified and updated 125 unique designations across 25 departments in the developed Role Aligned Competency Enhancement (RACE) Framework. Comprehensive data mapping is underway to develop a dictionary of Profiles-Roles & Responsibilities-competencies-Training needs for municipal staff that can be translated into an application to automate capacity building planning and implementation. A total of 65 competencies, across functional, domain and behavioural, have been defined for the ULBs capacity building.