Gender and Development: Gender sensitivity and gender relation development have become a major issue in the development approach of Bangladesh. Gender inequality leads to gradual deterioration of the status of women and the men are becoming  less sensitive in their gender relations. A systematic change is of extreme need for the betterment of both life and country. Realizing the situation Nabolok has set ensuring better gender relations as one of its main objectives and also taken the gender development issue as a cross-cutting issue in all its development activities.

Gender and Development:

Nabolok is also very serious to maintain gender equality in its organization management system. Nabolok's general body consists of 31 members, out of them 11 are female. The General body elects a 7 member Executive committee for a term of two years. In this term (2004-2006) the Executive committee elected three women out of a total seven members.

To maintain a good and fair gender relation Nabolok prepared a Gender Management Manual for its organizational personnel. Up to June 2005, Nabolok has a total number of 127 staffs, working in the head office & field offices- of them 49 are female and 78 are male.

Awareness Campaign: Ensuring better gender relations in development practices is one of the main objectives of Nabolok. To achieve the organizational objective of ensuring better gender relation Nabolok is anxious to establish a fair relationship enriched by the sense of equality between the opposite genders in its working area. In this regards Nabolok organizes awareness campaigns, courtyard meetings and gender training for both men and women in all its implemented programs. For this purpose Nabolok prepared a Gender Training Manual. Through the process Nabolok has formed Gender Development Committees to establish greater gender equity in the society. 

Through these committees Nabolok is trying to create awareness among men about the rights of women and to empower them by helping them to enhance their personal incomes. The families are now seen admiring their earning female members for their being self-sufficient and participating in family decision-making. As the GDC includes members from all strata of society, there is better interaction amongst them.

Cultural Programs of Nabolok: Nabolok has realized that the stage is the strongest medium for advocacy and awareness, and accordingly, has included a cultural component in its Awareness Raising programs. Pot song is a folk cultural form, which is quite popular because of its nature of representing the theme on canvas while the cultural activists explain the theme in song, using popular folk tunes. Nabolok's CulturaL Team also stages issue-based dramas and folk songs. This type of "Education through Entertainment" is a centuries-old tradition, and is quite popular among the rural people, and hence very effective in conveying ideas.

Women Empowerment

Nabolok also gives great emphasis on women's empowerment. Up to June 2005, Nabolok has formed total 589 primary groups among its beneficiaries. Of them 563 are female groups and rest 26 are male group. The total number of Nabolok's group members are 9964, of them 9703 are female and only 261 are male. Nabolok formed 35 Village development committees including 136 female members and only 4 male. Nabolok also formed 9 female Union Federation Committee, out of 10. In the gender development committee 49 committees are formed by the female, while 41 committees are for the male.

As a part of women empowerment Nabolok organized various training program for the female group members and the women UP members. To enhance the capacity of the Local Elected Bodies (LEBs), that is, the Union Parishads, Nabolok has implemented various training programs in its working areas. As part of this program, the primary group members decided to take part in UP election. Among the Nabolok's group members 21 candidates contested in the 1997 election, of them 12 female were elected as the members of UPs. Also in the last union Parishad election in 2002, 93 persons from among Nabolok's Primary Group members contested in the Union Parishad elections and 50 have been elected. This is a 400% improvement. 

Even without exerting any pressure on the Union Parishads (and the vested interests that control the Union Parishads), the mere possibility of such pressure being applied, is making the UP leaders amenable to suggestions for a more equitable delivery of state services and common resources. It may be noted in this connection that 90% of the members of  Nabolok's Primary Groups are women.

Under the SHAHAR project in Tongi Municipality in Gazipur district, Nabolok has implemented various activities, like continuous education session, CRC, Community resource management and maintenance committee. Four maintenance committees have been formed with 12 persons of whom 4 are female.