The IIHS Capacity Development Forum 2026 centres on enabling systems capacity for complex, technology‑mediated and partnership‑driven public systems, positioning capacity building as a core enabler of multi‑stakeholder public service delivery. Since 2021, the IIHS Capacity Development Forum (CDF) has moved from strengthening individual and institutional capacities to exploring ecosystem levers and enabling environments. CDF 2026 builds on this by focusing on multi‑stakeholder public service delivery, where governments increasingly work through networks of public, private, and civil society actors. At the same time, AI and digital technologies are reshaping work, learning, and institutional arrangements. The 2026 edition of the Capacity Development Forum connects earlier work on institutions and innovation ecosystems to a more integrated view of delivery architectures and capacities across the whole‑of‑society spectrum.

Over the last decade, public service delivery in India has shifted from predominantly state‑led provisioning to models that rely on collaboration, co‑production, and contractual partnerships with a range of non‑state actors. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) exemplify this ‘whole‑of‑society’ approach, with national and state governments, Urban Local Bodies, Panchayats, private operators, CSOs, and community organisations working together to achieve ambitious outcomes. These models demand capacities beyond technical planning to include partnership management, contracting, regulation, monitoring, social mobilisation, and conflict resolution.

Similar shifts appear in sectors such as public transport electrification, where cities adopt Gross Cost Contract (GCC) models for electric bus fleets, and in distributed renewable energy, smart metering, and urban planning, where public–private‑community arrangements co‑produce outcomes. System performance depends on the combined capacities of multiple actors and the quality of their interfaces. CDF 2026 draws on these experiences to argue that capacity building must be conceived at a system level, encompassing public agencies, PSUs, private firms, CSOs, communities, and citizens as co‑creators of public services.

At the same time, national reforms led by the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) and Mission Karmayogi have moved capacity building from one‑size‑fits‑all training towards role‑based, lifelong learning centred on platforms such as iGOT‑Karmayogi. AI‑enabled tools now support personalised learning pathways, multilingual access, and blended‑learning experiences. CBC’s thematic campaigns and events such as ‘AI for Capacity Building’ workshop and Sadhana Saptah have highlighted priorities around use of data and technology in governance, citizen‑centric service delivery, and digital and AI literacy. These trends reinforce a broader transformation in public sector workspaces, where AI and data‑driven tools reshape tasks, skills, and organisational practices.

Long‑term frameworks such as Urban Policy 2047 emphasise collaborative, partnership‑based approaches to urbanisation, assigning roles to empowered local governments, strengthened state capacity, and greater involvement of private actors, communities, and citizens in design, financing, and management of infrastructure and services. The Economic Survey 2025-26 similarly frames state capacity as co‑created across the state, firms, and citizens. CDF 2026 aims to provide a platform for forward‑looking discussions on partnership‑based state capacity, anchored in national reforms, emerging AI‑enabled learning ecosystems, and long‑term urban policy commitments.

Panel 1: Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Developing Public Service Delivery Capacity

Moderator: Subha Muthu Kumar, Senior Lead — IIHS Capacity Development

This panel will examine the demand side of capacity development in a system where public service delivery increasingly relies on partnerships among government, PSUs, private sector, CSOs and citizen groups. It will explore how different actors articulate their capacity needs, how these needs vary across sectors and scales, and what kinds of capacities are required for effective, accountable and equitable collaboration, in an increasingly AI-influenced delivery landscape. The panel will surface experiences from missions like SBM and JJM, sustainable transport and energy transitions, and urban planning reforms to understand how whole-of-society models are working in practice, what gaps remain, and how system-level capacity building can respond.

Key discussion points:

• Nature of capacities needed in partnership-based systems (regulatory, monitoring, performance contracting, co-production, behaviour change, data and AI literacy).
• What public institutions (Central, State, city), PSUs, private firms and CSOs perceive and prioritise as capacity needs – Sectoral experiences with whole-of-society approaches in SBM, JJM, electric bus deployment, distributed energy, and urban planning or land-based instruments.
• Impact of emerging technologies and AI use in partnership-based service delivery systems, on conceptualising capacity building needs and policy frameworks, funding models, and incentives around operationalising them.

Chaheti Singh Sisodia
Young Professional, NITI Aayog 

Chaheti works with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) at NITI Aayog, where she leads the implementation of the flagship Award-to-Reward (ATR) Programme. Her work focuses on programme design and implementation, strategic partnerships, capacity building, and strengthening women’s entrepreneurship ecosystems.

She has developed implementation frameworks for entrepreneurship programmes in collaboration with government, industry, and ecosystem partners to create market-linked opportunities for women entrepreneurs. She has also played a key role in expanding WEP’s state partnerships, including the launch of WEP Chapters in Haryana, Goa, and Odisha. 

Kavita Bhatia

Scientist ‘G’ & Group Coordinator, AI & Emerging Technology and Bhashini, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology

Kavita Bhatia has over 24 years of experience at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), where she has driven major initiatives in e-Governance and emerging technologies. From 2002 to 2022, she led the e-Governance Division, contributing to landmark projects including Mobile Seva, Aadhaar authentication, Aadhaar Data Vault, eSign, and Single Sign-On, facilitating digital transactions and supporting secure service delivery for all Aadhaar users. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she played a key role in the rollout of Aarogya Setu and CoWIN, and during demonetisation, she helped strengthen India’s digital payment systems at scale.

She also leads the Emerging Technologies Division, overseeing the IndiaAI Mission, the National Data Governance Policy, the National AI Portal (INDIAai), and the National Strategy on Robotics, while also facilitating the establishment of Centres of Excellence across emerging technology areas. Since 2023, she has additionally headed the Digital India Bhashini Division, focused on multilingual, AI-based language solutions to improve citizen access to government services.

Nilesh Rajadhyaksha
Country Programme Manager, UN-Habitat

Nilesh Rajadhyaksha is the Country Programme Manager for UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) in India, where he leads the implementation of the programme portfolio, while strengthening partnerships with national and state governments, urban local bodies, and development partners. He is an urban development specialist with over two decades of experience shaping urban policy, planning frameworks, and capacity-building initiatives in India.

He has led several high-impact initiatives like the Master Plan for Delhi 2041, MoHUA Liveability Standards for Cities, Urban20 National Technical Secretariat, Climate Projects Preparation Facility (CPPF) and various national capacity building programmes.

Vashima Shubha

Principal Advisor & Pillar Head (DPI & Partnerships), Capacity Building Commission, Government of India

Vashima Shubha has operated at the leading edge of digital transformation at the country scale for over two decades. Her career has been defined by architecting, scaling, and institutionalizing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Digital Public Goods (DPGs) that bridge societal divides and modernize public administration.

Currently, as Principal Advisor and Pillar Head for DPI & Partnership Management at the Capacity Building Commission (CBC), Government of India, she drives international cooperation frameworks under the transformational mandate of Mission Karmayogi. She leads the Global Digital Capacity Building Alliance (GDCBA), an initiative centered on a ‘Petalled Partnerships’ philosophy that unites governments, multilateral organizations, and tech ecosystems to co-create agile governance toolkits and cultivate ‘AI-native public officials’ across partner nations (including strategic bilateral engagements with civil servants from Sri Lanka and Seychelles).

Panel 2: Designing Capacity Development Futures for Whole-of-Society Delivery Systems

Moderator: Iswarya R, Senior Consultant — IIHS Capacity Development

This panel focuses on the supply side of capacity development, exploring how capacity building can be reconceptualised for system‑level public service delivery, moving beyond fragmented training towards partnership‑driven learning ecosystems for holistic capacity outcomes. It asks whether whole‑of‑society models in certain urban sectors offer transferable designs for training entities, such as shared learning infrastructures, joint curricula, or cross‑sectoral platforms.

The panel will examine how capacity building service providers operate in a funding landscape shaped by government schemes and multilateral projects with embedded capacity components, identifying where gaps are most acute and where innovative models can emerge.

The discussion will also engage with the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in capacity building, such as AI‑driven annual capacity plans, role‑based learning pathways, and multilingual support, as a force reshaping the design, delivery, and governance of learning systems. The panel will ask how capacity building providers, including think tanks, training institutes, and technology partners, can prepare for this future, what institutional and ecosystem support is needed, and how to safeguard equity, contextualisation, and quality in system‑level capacity development.

Key discussion points:

• Existing and emerging models of collaboration and co-creation among public and private training entities, think tanks, academia, foundations, and others for holistic service delivery capacity.
• Opportunities and constraints in the funding and governance of capacity building for system‑level outcomes.
• The role of AI and AI‑tech providers in reshaping capacity building service providers’ roles, responsibilities, and partnerships.
• Ecosystem support required for AI‑assisted, whole‑of‑society capacity building across sectors.

Aarushi Jain

Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB)

Aarushi Jain works at the intersection of public policy, governance, and institutional capacity building. As Policy Director and Head of Government Affairs at Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), she leads partnerships with central and state governments, international organisations, and academic institutions to advance evidence-based policymaking and strengthen public sector leadership in India. Her work focuses on improving governance systems, connecting research with policymaking, and using data and technology to support better policy decisions.

She has worked with institutions such as NITI Aayog, Capacity Building Commission, several central ministries, and state governments on policy reforms, data-driven governance, and leadership development programmes for civil servants and legislators. She has also contributed to strengthening legislative research and governance systems through initiatives such as Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship (MLRF) and Meghalaya District Research Fellowship (MDRF), supporting evidence-based policy research, constituency development planning, and legislative capacity building.

Chandralekha Mukherjee
Principal Advisor, Capacity Building Commission
Director General, Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA)

Chandralekha Mukherjee is a distinguished civil servant with over 36 years of experience leading policy design, implementation, and large interdepartmental teams across Indian Railways, the Ministry of Defence, and public administration training institutions. She currently serves as Principal Advisor to the Capacity Building Commission, where she is steering State Outreach Programme formulating state capacity building plans and developing an ecosystem for capacity building through the UNNATI platform, and is anchoring the competency framework integrating the trinity of Training Institutes, eHRMS, and the iGOT Karmayogi platform.

As Director General of HIPA and earlier of NAIR and IRITM, Ms. Chandralekha Mukherjee has led large-scale capacity-building programmes, including Mission Karmayogi initiatives, international training programmes, and new courses on AI, data analytics, green cities, and citizen-centric governance. Her career also includes leadership in public relations and service reforms, with a strong emphasis on transparency, technology, and institutional transformation. She brings deep experience in governance reform, training system design, and scalable public sector capacity development.

Ziaul Hoda

Vice President/Head – Personnel Management | Knowledge Creation & Management, Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS)

Ziaul Hoda, a lifelong learner at heart and a believer in human capacities, operates as Vice President at Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS). A capacity development professional by choice, Zia has an accumulated experience of over 23 years in human capacity development. He has served in private, civil society and public sector capacity development frameworks, designs and strategies.

He works in policy as well as implementation space on HR reforms in government. He closely works with Capacity Building Commission, Karmayogi Bharat and contributes at strategy and framework level and works with multiple states on their aspiration towards human resource reforms (including Recruitment, L&D and PMS. Previously he has worked with agencies like: GIZ, ADB, World Bank, USAID, and Swiss Dev Agency.

Keynote Address

Surendrakumar Bagde, IAS
Director General, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG)

Surendrakumar Bagde, IAS, has spent more than 31 years in the service. Currently, he serves as the Director General of the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG). At NCGG, he leads national and international programmes that strengthen governance systems, promote digital transformation, and build leadership capacities among civil servants in India and partner countries across Asia, Africa, and the Indian Ocean region. Under his leadership, NCGG has expanded its global capacity-building initiatives, forged partnerships with leading academic institutions and governments, and advanced knowledge exchange on digital governance, public service delivery, and evidence-based policymaking.

He has previously served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and held key leadership roles in investment promotion, urban infrastructure, transport reform, and international economic cooperation. An engineer, management professional, and scholar, he combines administrative experience with academic rigour, bringing a strong focus on innovation, technology-enabled governance, and institutional transformation.

Fireside Chat- International Overview: Public-Private Partnerships in Capacity Development

Moderator: Amit Mohapatra, Head — IIHS Capacity Development

The fireside chat will explore how diplomacy and capacity development intersect in a world of complex, multi-actor public systems. Drawing on the speaker’s experience in diplomacy, foreign service training, and international cooperation, the conversation will reflect on the evolving skills diplomats need, the role of public and private actors in strengthening learning ecosystems, and the possibilities for more collaborative, cross-sector approaches to knowledge creation and South–South cooperation. It will also examine how AI is reshaping the way learning is designed, shared, and personalised, while asking what institutions must do to ensure these shifts remain inclusive, practical, and future-ready.

Raj Kumar Srivastava

Dean, Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

Raj Kumar Shrivastava is a career diplomat and joined the Indian Foreign Service (SSIFS) in 1997. Before joining the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, he served in Indian Embassies in Madrid (Spain), Yangon (Myanmar), Vienna (Austria), Brasilia (Brazil), Tokyo (Japan) and Zagreb (Croatia). He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazil and Japan, and as Ambassador in Croatia.

As Dean at SSIFS, he leads the training and professional development of Indian Foreign Service officers, Heads of Mission, foreign diplomats, and other government officials. He oversees the design and delivery of diplomatic training programmes, drives innovation in diplomatic education, strengthens international partnerships, and guides SSIFS’s efforts to align diplomatic capacity-building with India’s foreign policy and governance priorities.

Key discussion points:

• Domain, functional, and behavioural competencies that diplomats must build for multi-actor governance, and their growing relevance for bureaucrats, programme leaders, and decisionmakers.
• Models of public–private partnership that position non-public stakeholders as co-creators of learning infrastructure, domain knowledge, digital platforms, and cross-sector networks.
• Approaches to South–South cooperation that translate diplomatic and cross-border insight into practical, less fragmented capacity-building action within the country.
• The disruptive role of AI in curating, sharing, translating, and personalising knowledge across institutions, and the safeguards needed for inclusive, future-ready adoption.

Leaderspeak

Roopa Mishra

Joint Secretary, Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

Roopa Mishra, an IAS officer of the 2004 Odisha cadre, currently serves as Joint Secretary in the Urban Development Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, New Delhi. With over two decades of experience across urban development, drinking water and sanitation, rural development, public health, renewable energy, labour administration, and district governance, she has held several leadership positions at both the state and national levels.

Her extensive career includes roles such as Director in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti and held key positions in the Government of Odisha, including Mission Director of the National Health Mission, Chief Executive of the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA), Labour Commissioner, and District Collector of Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, and Khurda. She has received multiple awards, including Achievement Awards for solar energy initiatives and NRHM awards for population stabilization and child survival.