In order to reach the more remote interior villages where nobody else has attempted to do developmental work, the Sangam introduced Sub Centres in the areas where the villages are often cut off for weeks during the rainy season and where the distances and high transport costs limit the amount of work that can be covered by the Sangam Health Team based at Bamhani.
In 2005 the first Sub Centre was established in Shedeshwar which is more than 23 km away from the Bamhani Base Centre over mainly unmade roads. Following this successful pilot project at Shedeshwar a second Sub Centre was set up in Gondwananagar which is adjacent to the MIDC Industrial Area and about 18 km away from the Bamhani Base Centre. In January 2008 the Sangam established a third Sub Centre in Narayanpur, 21 km south of the Bamhani Base Centre. Each of the three Sub Centres provide a kindergarten class for the village children, a sewing class for young women and a healthcare clinic base for the surrounding villages run by a Trained Birth Attendant who supports the home based Village Health and Social Workers.
Currently the Sangam's Sub Centres are based in rented rooms in village homes and the Gondwananagar Sub Centre is split between two homes that do not even have running water. The Sangam’s staff have to fetch water from the village well which is about 500 metres away.
Now that the Sangam is established in the three village centres, with a Development Grant from the German Government, the Ecumenical Sangam plan to build three purpose built Sub Centres. The Sangam acquired a 5000 square foot plot of land in Narayanpur village in September 2009 and two adjacent plots of land totalling 3200 square foot in Gondwananagar village in October 2009. Construction material has been purchased and delivered to site in Narayanpur village and excavation work has been completed for the footings. The building will have a 20,000 litre underground water tank for rainwater harvesting. On the ground floor will be the clinic, office and toilets, the first floor will have two large rooms for the tailoring and kindergarten classes and on the third floor there will be accomodation for volunteers with kitchen and toilet facilities. This will leave an open space of approx. 3700 square feet space for the children's playground.
Photos of the ground breaking ceremony in Narayanpur can be seen on the 'News pages'.
The Sangam team have been actively looking for a suitable plot of land around the third Sub Centre in Shedeshwar village but have been hampered by the fact that the ownership of the available plots could not be established with the Land Registry. Shedeshwar village was created when a reservoir flooded an adjacent valley and people from a number of small villages were rehoused on plots of land which they were granted on the basis that they lived on the land but they would be unable to move on and sell it.
The Sangam team have finally acquired a plot of land in Sawangi Burg in December 2009, a small village of 180 houses, located about 6 kilometres from Shedeshwar on the approach road. This location will enable the Sangam to reach out to the surrounding 12 villages. The plot is 2720 square foot with an adjacent quarter acre of agricultural land suitable to lay out a play ground for the kindergarten children. A test pit has been dug on this Sub Centre plot for soil testing to establish what type of foundations will be required before the building design can be completed.
 
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