It is against this background that one needs to view initiatives to build capacities of elected representatives with the involvement of women and men in their respective representative areas. There are examples of organisations, elected representatives and citizen’s groups who all are trying to bring in changes for the better. Urban Research Centre(URC) is one such organisation working on issues of Governance and Economy in Urban areas in Karnataka. One of its focus programmes is to bridge the gap between local groups and elected representatives through participatory planning. As a step further, to understand the ground realities concerning elected women representatives URC undertook the present study. Its main objective is to examine factors affecting women councillors for effective policy making, and to understand support measures available for women councillors in political parties, state government and through other groups. The study results are expected to help in developing a framework for intervention to enhance the effective participation of women councillors in urban governance. In order to facilitate the discussion on crucial issues related to the development process in India, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publishes a series of books and papers of which this publication is a part. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) is a non-profit, NGO supported by the Government of Germany. Aiming at the strengthening of democratic structures, the FES promotes training and policy oriented research programmes in Germany and in cooperation with partner organizations- in more than 100 countries across the world. The India office of FES works with policy makers, academic and research organisations, trade unions, and NGOs. Within the overall gender approach the Women’s Empowerment Project of the FES extends support to initiatives of NGOs and self-help groups aiming at the economic and political empowerment of women. Accordingly its priority areas are livelihood and income generation, natural resource management, displacement and rehabilitation and participation of women in decision making. Facilitating workshops and roundtables, action based research and publications around these concerns are integral to the Project. Damyanty Sridharan Project Adviser Friedrich- Ebert- Stiftung New Delhi