Kudumbashree bags the Award for Best Stall in Saras Fair held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat from 15-26 September 2017. Hasthakala unit from Kochi and Bapuji Unit from Kozhikode bagged the award for the best stall and highest sales.

On behalf of Kudumbashree Micro Enterprise units, Smt. Ambika Venu, Consultant, Micro Enterprises received the award from Shri A.K.Singh, Director, District Rural Development Agency, Ahmedabad.

Every year entrepreneurs from Kudumbashree take part in Saras Fairs organised by other states. This time members of Hasthakala unit (Ernakulam), Aavani Unit (Pathanamthitta), Bapuji Unit (Kozhikode) and 4 ME consultants took part in the fair. It is notable that they made a record sale of Rs 5 lakh within 10 days. Spices, ayurvedic products, herbal products, bamboo rice, chips, pickles, rice powder, arrowroot powder, eco friendly bags, honey and other products were available for sale in Kudumbashree stalls. Kudumbashree women consider this as an opportunity to sell their products outside our state. By taking part in saras fair outside Kerala, they are now able to find more market for their business. A marketing team was also set up in connection with saras fair for extending support for them. The products of entrepreneurs who were unable to attend the fair was also collected and displayed by the marketing team. Therefore entrepreneurs from different units could sell their products with the help of marketing team.

Kudumbashree will also take part in tge Saras fair to be held at Vijayawada from 27 September to 8 October 2017. They will also take part in the upcoming sars fairs to be held at Jaipur (Rajastan), Himanya Saras( Utharaghand), Dehradun, Goa in October, Kolkata in November and Bhilai( Chathisgarh) in December. By taking part in saras fairs across the country, entrepreneurs are getting more income and more market for their products.

New Guidelines were launched for making the audit of Kudumbashree three tier system more transparent and efficient. The guidelines was launched by Smt.S Nisha, Director, Kudumbashree Mission during the state level programme of Kudumbashree Accounts and Auditing Service Society (KAASS).

KAASS is the authorised auditing facility of Kudumbashree which include 2.7 lakh Neighborhood Groups, 19,854 Area Development Societies and 1073 Community Development Societies. 324 members of 43 groups are working in KAASS. They are working as the Micro Enterprises unit of Kudumbashree. It is for improving and making the present auditing system more efficient and transparent that new guidelines are launched. Executive Director had already given approval for the same.

It would be an achievement that KAASS auditing will therefore be in a centralized mode from now onwards. The directions for making the audit more accurate and substantial and the time limit for completing the audit as per the bylaw are also included in the guidelines.

Other than the Central-State projects worth crores, financial transactions like bank loan, micro enterprise programmes, government funds are also done through Kudumbashree three tier system. The guidelines will help in preparing a substantial audit report studying this financial transactions.

For making KAASS team more professional, training will be given to them regarding the central government's and other projects. New software will also be launched as part of making the transaction centralized. For ensuring more income to KAASS team, they will also be included in the accounts maintaining training programme of NHGs as trainers. ID cards will be issued and financial assistance will also be ensured.

Geriatric care has become a topic of high importance in Kerala's today's scenario. As per 2011 census, 13 % of the total population of Kerala are senior citizen. And it is estimated that it will become 20% by 2025. And most of them are women.Because of the notable interventions in healthcare sector, Kerala's average life expectancy is similar to that of developed countries. And as a result, the population of senior citizen in Kerala is also increasing accordingly. As per the NSS survey 2015, most of them above 65 years of age are suffering from health related issues. As the families of Kerala had confined to nuclear families, no one is left to take care of senior citizen. Hence, Kumbashree is to launch Care Giver for Senior Citizen to put an end to their isolated life devoid of fun and care.

Kudumbashree has always been concerned about the life of senior citizen of our society. Even though other programmes are there for Senior citizen, 'Care Giver for Senior Citizen' would ensure full time care for Senior citizen.

A team of physically fit men and women under 45 years of age will work in district level as care givers. Proper training will be provided to them by Kudumbashree. Beneficiaries may get their services round the clock through call centres. The facilities will include proper communication services like mobile phones and online services.

A pilot study regarding this will be conducted in Urban local bodies and panchayaths. The senior citizens who stay alone as their dear ones are abroad will be selected for this study. Bystander facility for those who lives lonely, Leisure trips, Day care facilities, assistance for pensioners will also be provided. Therefore through 'Care giver for Senior Citizen' programme Kudumbashree assures secured life for senior citizen. Kudumbashree is getting ready to gift a new life to the senior citizen.

9 Students of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Gujarat joined Kudumbashree as interns as part of the Village Fieldwork Segment of their two years Post Graduate Programme in Rural Management. The students were divided into 2 groups. 6 of them joined Attappady special project and the rest to Enmakaje Village, Kazargode. The internship training will be of 45 days duration.

The Institute of Rural Management Anand is India's leading school in rural management committed to act as the catalyst and facilitator of rural prosperity, who educates those inspired to work with organisations serving the rural sector and engaging directly with rural communities.

During this stay the students will get an opportunity to observe and experience village life and engage in exploring the lives and livelihoods of village residents.They will study in detail about Kudumbashree model of poverty alleviation and the role played by Kudumbashree in uplifting the women to the mainstream of the society.The students will also be able to explore their hopes, aspirations, potential for change and the various constraints they face. Therefore students from different parts of the country will get the opportunity to learn in detail about the livelihood of the villagers and the notable interventions made by Kudumbashree in Kerala.

Kudumbashree received an invitation for giving training for women of uganda on the topic 'Entrepreneurship development in agriculture sector among rural women'. Kudumbashree had given 15 day training to 26 senior officials of agriculture, irrigation and animal husbandary departments of few african countries during March 2017. The training was conducted under the leadership of National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management, Hyderabad and U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID). It is in continuation with that training Kudumbashree officials are invited to Uganda.

Kudumbashree will give 10 days training on Entrepreneurial Development, different programmes on agriculture, production of value added products, relevance of forming consortiums etc to women of Uganda. Kudumbashree's expertise in giving Entrepreneurial Development will help them in training the women there.

A 26 member team from Liberia, Uganda, Ghana, Afganistan, Mongolia, Malawi, Kenya and Mosambia had visited Kerala as part of their training organised by National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management, Hyderabad and USAID. Kudumbashree had entrusted Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) for giving training to this team. It's on getting motivated by the training received at Kerala, they invited Kudumbashree to Uganda.

Restrooms opened by Kudumbashree at railway stations attract masses. The restrooms of Kudumbashree stands out unique because of the services they provide to the passengers. The air conditioned rest rooms that works 24 hours a day provides a comfortable halt to the travellers. Feeding console arranged for lactating mothers is one of the attractive feature of Kudumbashree Rooms. Kids area is also set up along with. Recliner sofa is made available for senior citizen. The travellers need to pay only Rs 25 per hour for availing these services.The staff of the rest room were trained under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) programme, which gives skill training to the rural youth in India. Kudumbashree rest rooms are opened at Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam and Thrissur railway stations. The clean and safe rest rooms opened by Kudumbashree is a boon to the women passengers who travels alone.

Kudumbashree is planning to appoint women advocates for ensuring free legal assistance for women and children who approach snehitha for help. Full time service of women advocates will be provided to the women who are in distress. It will be operational from 1st of January onwards.

The main aim of the centre is to provide help and support to those women and children who are in distress and facilitating them to access the service of other institutional agencies to address their issues. The Help Desk initiated by Kudumbashree Mission is working on the principle of convergence, which is followed by a close interface and collaboration with the registered service providers of the state. Presently Snehitha is working in 6 districts Ernakulam,Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, palakkad and Wayanad and will be started in 14 districts soon. The preliminary works regarding this had already been started.

Cases of physical assaults were also reported at Snehitha help desks. Its for ensuring legal assistance to the victims and thereby to strengthen them by extending enough support that women advocates will be appointed. The legal assistance from women advocated will help them in solving their problems.

Snehitha gender help desk also acts as the district centre of the State Resource Centre for women which was recently opened in association with Social Justice Department. Snehitha was launched in 2013 and so far Snehitha Gender Help Desk had resolved 7000 cases from different districts.

Projects of 8 Urban Local Bodies also get state wide approval as per the Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana(PMAY) Programme, working under Central- State Ministries with the mission of achieving 'Housing for All' .Therefore projects for the housing of 1887 families in Panoor, Thalassery, Karunagapally, South Paravur, Kattappana, Nedumangad, Kalamassery and Perinthalmanna urban local bodies got approval. The work regarding this is in progress under 93 municipalities. The suggestion regarding this was put forward by the State Level Advisory Committee presided by Shri T.K Jose IAS, Principal Secretary, Local Self Government Department. Kudumbashree is the nodal agency of PMAY in Kerala.

A detailed list of the homeless in 93 urban local bodies will be submitted to central government before October 30. The project fund will be released as per the approval received.

The programme allows 3 lakh rupees for building Houses. One and half lakh rupees will be met from the Central Government fund. The rest will be met from the State Government and Local bodies fund. State government had already given approval for making 35050 houses. Rs 1050 Crore is the estimated amount for building these houses. Construction of 11073 houses had already been started and the construction of 178 houses had already been completed.

The programme is framed, including the factors such as Colony development, credit linked subsidy, affordable housing scheme and personal Construction.As per this years programme, 30000 houses will be finished. Kudumbashree aims to get approval for all plans for building houses this year itself. Therefore Houses for all who owns atleast one cent of land would be a reality then.

Kudumbashree's Nutrimix will soon be purchased by Child Fund India, a global child development organisation representing the voice of the deprived, excluded and vulnerable children in India, regardless of their race, creed and gender, for their Jhabua Centre located at MadhyaPradesh. As per the order, Kudumbashree will deliver 4050 Kg of Nutrimix to Child Fund India. The Nutrimix will be supplied to the children who are suffering from severe malnutrition there. It is for the first time that Kudumbashree is receiving an order from outside the state.

From 2006 onwards Kudumbashree is collaborating with the Social Welfare Department for the supply of Take Home Ration for Supplementary Nutrition to the 33000 ‘Anganwadis’ in the State. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) provides the Supplementary Nutrition for children in the form of Take Home Ration (THR). 248 units are producing Nutrimix in the state.An average of 1300 metric tones of Nutrimix are distributed through the Anganavadis every month and has a turnover of Rs 93 crores. The Nutrimix powder was developed as per the directions of Integrated Child Development Services Programme.

Amrutham Nutrimix is the food supplement provided to the children of the age group of 6 months to 3 years. It comes in 500 grams packet. Wheat, Soya Chunks, Bengal gram, Groundnut and Sugar are the basic ingredients .

Nutrimix has enabled thousands of rural women to manufacture and supply the nutritional supplement to their children all across the state and from now onwards they are transcending boundaries to reach out to the children who are suffering from the issues of malnutrition.

Following the success of the Saras Mela 2017 held at Malappuram, Kudumbashree Members took part in the Saras fair held at  Ahmedabad, Gujarath from 15 to 26 September 2017. A six member team from Kudumbashree joined the Saras Fair. There was a high demand for the products from Kerala. The people of Gujarat were offered a chance to taste the ethnic food and products of Kerala.

Receiving a warm welcome from Saras Fair held at Gujarat, Kudumbashree Mission is  planning  active participation in the Saras Fairs in other states. The Saras Mela 2017 held at Malappuram offering the best of traditional food and artistry had carved out a new era in the history by drawing huge crowds and making a record sale of Rs 6.5 crores.The Saras fair had played a major role in providing a unique platform for developing linkages between artisans and craftsman all around the country with buyers and customers.