An overarching theme is village development. Besides these, we also hold regular health and hygiene workshops and
advocacy efforts on the issues and concerns ranging from anti-alcoholism to protecting the environment. NANAK firmly believes in a convergence-based approach, hence the National Forum of Action on Convergence (NFAC) is one of our unique initiative programmes. The idea of convergence is simple yet essential for substantive impact. It is to converge services, schemes, programmes such that they tackle the multi-dimensional nature of underdevelopment and the multi-dimensional nature of poverty. The effort is to not confine ourselves to a particular thematic area, but to address interrelated issues of education, health, poverty, gender discrimination, etc.
Addressing issues in isolation to each other does not bear results, hence the convergence based approach. We apply this approach to all our centres. For instance, in the remote village of Majhui in Sasaram, Bihar, we are running a primary school which is much more than a school for formal education. We believe in recognizing the potential of the school to act as a community hub, and tap on its potential to bring about a positive change in the village and its surrounding areas. This becomes even more important in rural and remote areas, where there is a severe lack of formal structures. So, we regularly hold awareness campaigns on social issues such as anti-alcoholism, health camps, tree-plantation drives for the entire village community. Through a partnership with READ India, we have built a Library and Information Centre within the school premises which is open to use for the entire village community after school hours.

Similarly, we have several Women's Empowerment centers which runs 6-month stitching, tailoring and merchandising, and beauty and wellness courses – Timarpur, Raipurchor, Dawath, Deo. We encourage women to use these centres as spaces to derive positive and constructive strength from each other and form self-help groups, collectively escalate gender issues to local Panchayats, etc. Mahila Samooh(Women collectives) are encouraged to take keen interest in ownership of the centre for sustainability of our projects. Apart from skills training, we regularly conduct workshops in personality development, health and hygiene, and talks on gender justice, women's
empowerment, etc. To develop the concept of Convergence and push for its inclusion in policy, NANAK publishes knowledge products and organizes several knowledge sharing events including the Annual Convergence ThinkFest which has now become a uniqu USP of this organization. For communications and advocacy, Gaon ki Selfie, NANAK's bimonthly periodical is published which focuses on relevant themes such as good governance, women's empowerment. The periodical is bi-lingual and is widely circulated within the government and development sector in Delhi as well as in the rural areas where we already have our presence.

As we move towards a new year, we are aiming to focus on a new thematic area- strengthening local governance. In particular, we are working at strengthening female participation in local governance. There is a lack of awareness of the structure, powers, and functions of Panchayats as stipulated in the Constitution. While reservations for women in Panchayats has led to increased female Panchayat members, this is often only on paper and in reality the phenomenon of female proxy leaders is rampant. NANAK has recently launched a pilot project in two districts of Bihar- Aurangabad and Siwan, where we propose to run an awareness-generation campaign along with imparting training to increase effective female participation in Panchayats. We would like to thank the NANAK team, in all its field offices and in Delhi, along with our partners and friends who have contributed to NANAK's endeavors, without whom it would not have been possible to take such strides. We look forward to bringing more positive change in society with the contribution and commitment.