This unique initiative has incorporated the WFH [work-from-home] model for Lenovo volunteers monitoring the project. These volunteers can work from anywhere to support the project. They have developed an app and a database that allows farmers to make better decisions based on data. Importantly, this data helps in making decisions during both rain and sunshine.

New and traditional millet recipes to encourage farmers and end-consumers in Kanthalloor are also being compiled. The project is also creating bite-sized, easy-to-consume information nuggets around the key events, dates, and weather in the millet value chain

It is said that knowledge cannot be obtained without a guru, and there is no age for learning. This is why at Varun Mishra's music class, students come to learn from 5-year-old children to 80-year-old elders.

The library in the village hosts books from renowned authors and poets, as well as those from new writers. That's why during summer vacations, monsoons, or the biting cold of December-January, children come here after school.

Health-cum-storm shelters are coming up in the Sundarbans which regularly faces an onslaught of cyclonic storms. Local materials, such as bamboo and mud, are being used to build these climate resilient shelters.

Far from the swanky corporate offices of ‘mainstream’ media houses, Gaon Connection offers a fertile ground to young journalists to understand and report on issues that affect two-thirds of the population of our country.

As I look back at the year gone by, my heart swells with pride, and I am also humbled at the achievements of Team Gaon Connection, big and small, that not only started some key projects in 2023 but also launched monthly magazines and published books with insights from rural India.

As this year draws to a close, we revisit two unique publications released by Gaon Connection. While the ‘100 Tales of Teachers Transforming Education in Rural India’ celebrated the successful stories of rural teachers, the Climate Connection Report 2023 chronicled 75 stories of climate change from rural India.

The benefits of decentralised midday meal kitchens, where noon meals are freshly cooked at the school premises, go far beyond the health benefits for students. These kitchens can be a game changer for rural women as I learnt from Manu Naik, a widow and a mother of two.

The Mo School programme has brought together 30 lakh alumni and community members across Odisha. Apart from voluntary services, the alumni network has contributed Rs 253 crore towards transformation of the government schools.