Empowering district officials for a future-ready Jharkhand: Strategic training on sustainable just transition

Task Force sets the mandate; districts prepare for a post-coal economy

The Government of Jharkhand’s Just Transition Task Force asked partners to build district capacity so that climate action strengthens livelihoods rather than leaving people behind. The brief was clear: protect workers and tribal communities, repair land and water, and keep local economies stable as coal declines. This created a practical goal for officials who must balance revenue, jobs, and nature.

Jharkhand holds 29% of India’s coal reserves and 40% of its mineral wealth. As India accelerates toward sustainable energy, the state’s 33 million people face a defining question: can climate action strengthen livelihoods rather than hollowing them out?

We partnered with UNDP India and the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi to design and deliver a capacity-building programme for district officials across Jharkhand’s coal-linked districts. The mandate came from the Government of Jharkhand’s Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition, a multi-departmental body created in 2022 to steer climate-compatible growth for the state.

At a glance

Duration	May 2025 (3 + 3 days, two cohorts)
Partners	UNDP India, Demos Helsinki, IIM Ranchi
Mandate	Government of Jharkhand’s Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition
Participants	79 district officials from 18 coal-linked districts
Methods	2050 scenarios, stakeholder role-play, field visits, roadmap co-creation, pre/post surveys
Outputs	About 16 district roadmaps (2025–2050), facilitation toolkit, peer network

Why this matters now

Jharkhand’s coal economy is deeply woven into livelihoods, fiscal revenues, and local identity. The shift away from coal shapes whether miners find new work, whether tribal communities retain land access, and whether district budgets stay viable. Without building the capacity of the officials closest to these realities, even the best national strategies risk becoming shelf documents.

Previous sessions in 2023, held at IIM Guwahati and IIM Ahmedabad, had prepared state-level leaders. This programme took the next step: equipping the 79 district officials who must actually deliver the transition on the ground.

Our role

Demos Helsinki designed the programme methodology, developed foresight and participatory tools, and facilitated all training sessions. UNDP India convened state actors and maintained national-level links. IIM Ranchi brought teaching expertise and local institutional grounding. The Government of Jharkhand’s Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition set the mandate and ensured political anchoring.

What we did

Demos Helsinki designed and facilitated a three-day training programme, delivered twice in May 2025 to two cohorts. Participants came from 18 of Jharkhand’s 24 coal-linked districts, spanning energy, mining, rural development, forestry, MSMEs, and banking. The programme combined foresight tools, experiential learning, and participatory roadmap co-creation:

Day 1) Contextualisation, framing and futures

We established a shared understanding of just transition and ran scenario exercises projecting to 2050. Cross-departmental groups stress-tested five possible futures for Jharkhand, all imagined through fictional personas against real data on energy markets, land pressures, and community needs. Teams identified no-regret actions that hold up in any scenario, alongside larger bets that require staged investment.

Day 2) Immersion and experience

Participants visited the Rajrappa coal ecosystem in Ramgarh and the Tenughat thermal ecosystem in Bokaro. These field visits turned abstract policy into tangible reality. Teams saw which assets could be repurposed, where land restoration will take decades, and how transport gaps block new industries. 

Back in Ranchi, a stakeholder role-play exercise shifted the conversation from projects to people: officials argued transition choices as a coal miner, a self-help group leader, a tribal elder, or a small business owner. Three things changed. Officials started using plainer language. They named who gains and who loses from each choice. And they accepted that social support is a core part of any credible transition plan.

Day 3) Roadmaps and commitments

District teams drafted 2025–2050 roadmaps covering livelihood diversification, environmental repair, and fiscal resilience. Each plan named owners, set review cycles, and tied near-term actions to budgets. Peer review sharpened the roadmaps before handover to the Task Force.

What changed

• 79 district officials trained from 18 of Jharkhand’s 24 coal-linked districts
• Around 16 district roadmaps produced, linking near-term actions to long-term aims through 2050
• Understanding of just transition jumped from 11% to 44% (strong understanding) in pre- and post-training surveys
• A cross-departmental peer network created, which is the real asset that outlasts any single workshop
• District officials embraced new planning approaches and gained ownership, as many came to see the transition as their agenda, not just the Task Force’s

What people said

“We are so pleased with the training. Getting the stakeholders engaged was a task, to say the least. But the way the team brought them together and thinking was truly incredible.”
— Shweta Koshy, UNDP India

“Such programs and workshops should be organised time and again so that more and more officials can understand the concept of just transition in detail.”
— Participant, Workshop 2

“This type of workshop should be arranged at every district for getting more ideas involving all stakeholders for better formalisation of the Just Transition process.”
— Participant, Workshop 2

“This type of trainings should be conducted at district, village and block level.”
— Participant, Workshop 1

What this adds to India’s just transition playbook

Just transition is about statecraft. Training mixed teams, tying every strategy to a named owner and a date, and keeping field reality close to the desk are ways governments can shake up their usual capacities. Publish plans, review them on a schedule, and keep people at the centre. The Jharkhand cohort now has the kit to do that.

For more information or to explore just transition capacity building for your context, please contact:
Seona Candy
Senior Researcher
seona.candy@demoshelsinki.fi

Bhuvana Sekar
Expert, New Governance
bhuvana.sekar@demoshelsinki.fi

Image credits: Ranchi | Ranchi Tourist Places | Incredible India. (2026). Incredible India. https://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/jharkhand/ranchi