Kudumbashree shines at Bharat Parv, the event organised by Ministry of Tourism to exhibit the cross links and layers of Indian culture cuisine and crafts at Redfort, New Delhi from 26-31 January 2019. The event celebrates the rich cultural, ethnic, cuisine diversity of India and exhibit India's richness of cultural diversity before world and thereby promoting the tourism prospects of India. 

Along the with traditional art forms and handicrafts, Kerala's ethnic range of cuisines are presented by the Cafe Kudumbashree units, promoted by Kudumbashree Mission before the global and national gathering visiting the venue. In association with Kerala house and the Tourism Department, Kudumbashree Mission has set up a stall at red fort to exhibit the culinary skills of  the Kudumbashree women. Two units, viz., strawberry cafe unit from Idukki district and Natturuchy cafe unit from Kasargod  district serves ethnic cuisines of central Travancore and Kasaragod. It is for the fourth consecutive year that Kudumbashree is participating in Bharat Parv. Cafe Kudumbashree units had made sales of Rs 1,26,160 and Rs 92,920 in  Bharat Parv 2017 and Bharat Parv 2018 respectively.

Associating with the Institute of Hotel Management Catering & Nutrition, Pusa, New Delhi, Kudumbashree women would demonstrate their culinary skills with one starter dish - kozhukatta, one main course dish - Kudumbashree special dum biriyani, and one dessert - nakshatra payasam in conjugation with vegetable halwa in front of the crowd at the live cookery demonstration.  Cafe Kudumbashree food court is receiving wide appreciation and very good responses from the masses gathered to view the celebration of India's culture.

Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk, the first of its kind Kudumbashree Bazar is opened at Thiruvalla,Pathanamthitta. The same was inaugurated by Shri. Mathew.T.Thomas, MLA on 24 January 2019. Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk is the one stop shop where all the products of Kudumbashree micro enterprises in the district would be made available. Apart from making available the Kudumbashree products under one umbrella, Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk also aims at promoting organic food thereby ensuring clean and healthy food for the public. Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk is located near the Municipal Stadium at Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta.

A Kudumbashree cafe which sells cooked organic food is arranged at Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk. Arrangements for converting paddy into rice is also set up at Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk. The Kudumbashree members at the LSGs will be in charge of the functioning of Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk is set up in 2000 sqft. Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk comprises of juice parlour, puttukada, ready to cook, ready to serve, stocking/ delivery counter, space for organic food items, curry powder, rice powder, vegetable items, garments, bags, tailoring, beauty parlour, organic items, bakery, rice shops, fish stall, cafeteria and billing. Kudumbashree Bazar Village Souk will extend an opportunity for the micro entrepreneurs in the district to market their products. Kudumbashree Bazars will soon be opened in other districts as well.

'Skill Voyage' and 'Best Practices', the books published by Kudumbashree, Kerala SRLM was released at DDUGKY Regional Review Meeting. Smt. Alka Upadhyay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and Shri. Charanjith Singh IFS, Joint Secretary (Rural Skills), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) released the books at the Regional Review Meeting held at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai on 24 January 2019.

The Best Practices of Kudumbashree SRLM was presented by Shri. S. Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission during the review meeting. The 'Best Practices' book comprises of the details on inclusion, convergence, ensuring quality of PIA (Project Implementing Agency) deliverables, interventions benefiting candidates, IEC-reaching the stakeholders, project strategy and execution. 'Skill Voyage' includes articles written by the state level functionaries, on varied topics relevant to the implementation of the programme. The topics explored in the articles include policy level decisions to enhance the quality of PIA deliverables through social audit and rating of DDUGKY Centres and grading of PIAs, benefits of pursuing Qualitative Appraisal by Kudumbashree rather than entrusting the task to an external agency, successful convergence initiatives, web based monitoring and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), community based tracking of DDUGKY candidates and other new initiatives, policies, and improvements and finally the impact and sector wise achievements are detailed.

Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission  developed a website for Snehitha Gender Help Desk, Thrissur, in collaboration with  the Department of Media Studies, St.Thomas College, Thrissur. It is as part of convergence activities of gender team of Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission that the website is launched. www.snehithathrissur.net, the website of  Snehitha Gender Help Desk, Thrissur was launched by Shri. S. Harikishore, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission at District Co-operative Bank Hall, Thrissur on 14 January 2019.

The website consultancy service is provided on voluntary service basis. Mr. Joseph, Assistant Professor and Ms. Keerthana, Multimedia 6th Semester degree student are giving technical support to Snehitha for website related works. Thrissur Snehitha Gender Help Desk is also planning to add online login facility in this website for operating Snehitha services. 

In Snehitha website home page we can catch 'what we do', 'who are we', 'field activities', 'gallery', 'services', 'events', 'toll free number 18004252573' and 'cover photos'. Under the 'what we do' tab the services extended by Snehitha is narrated such as counselling, service providing, shelter, rehabilitation and field level activities. 

In the counselling part,  details about individual counselling, couple counselling, marital therapy, family therapy, tele counselling, premarital counselling, child guidance and career counselling are included. The service providing part contains the details about mediation, legal aid, legal clinic and  networking with other department and institutions. In the shelter part, the services being provided to Snehitha inmates and inmate engagement activities  are described.The Rehabilitation part narrates about  livelihood orientation, livelihood trainings, 20 days EDII Program and e-job assistance services. In the field level activities area the Snehitha out reach activities such as community counselling, Gender Resource Centers (GRCs), Block Level Counselling Centres(BLCCs), Snehitha Calling Bell, Campaigns, Nattukkoottam, Gender Sesitization workshops, Group Counselling programs and Model Gender Resource Centres etc are explained.

By launching the website www.snehithathrissur.net,  Snehitha Gender Help Desk, Thrissur has made a leap in extending the gender related assistance to the common women in the district.

Kudumbashree launched ARISE (Acquiring Resilience and Identity through Self Employment), to extend skill training for self employment. Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister for Local Self Governments, Government of Kerala inaugurated the skill training programme held at Government Guest House, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram on 17 January 2019. '#shecan' the book which comprises of the features on innovative micro enterprises of Kudumbashree was released at the function. The website of 'Harsham Caregivers for elder care', the innovative and a flagship programme of Kudumbashree which gives livelihood opportunities to many committed Kudumbashree members was also launched at the function.

ARISE aims at extending skill training to 50,000 flood affected families, in various sectors thereby equipping them for paid employment. The campaign mainly aims at helping them in attaining resilience. Those who reside in the non flood affected areas can also become part of the skill training programme. ARISE will extend training in house keeping, sales, laundry & ironing, day care, agriculture related jobs, electrical works, electronic repair, plumbing and data entry.

The tenure of the training programme will be of 3 months. Interested men from Kudumbashree families may also become part of the programme. Along with helping people to start individual-group enterprises the campaign also aims at strengthening the micro enterprise sector of Kudumbashree. A survey was conducted using Kudumbashree Block Coordinators for finding out the sectors in which NHG women are interested. It was found that data entry, plumping, electronic repairing, electrical works, agriculture related jobs, laundry, ironing, sales, housekeeping, day care etc are the sectors in which they are interested. It was understood that by extending training they could get an income of their own which would help in eradicating their poverty.

The campaign activities were already started in all districts, And interested candidates had made registrations at their respective CDSs during 15 December 2018- 1 January 2019. The skill training would be extended through Government accredited training agencies and empanelled training agencies.

Snehitha Livelihood Centre started functioning at Kavalangad Grama Panchayath of Ernakulam district of Kerala. The centre aims at extending skill training for the inmates who come to Snehitha Gender Help Desk seeking help. The service of the Snehitha Livelihood Centre will also be made available to the NHG members from Kavalangad Grama Panchayath and all NHG members in Ernakulam district.

The training is being extended in poster- banner making.There had arouse a huge demand for cloth banners where green protocol is implemented. The election will also offer a great opportunity for the women. Other than skill training, the Snehitha Livelihood Centre also plans to extend gender trainings, pre-marital, post- marital counsellings, assistance in Gender Self Learning Programme (GSLP) Study Report Preparation and various campaigns for NHG members. The Panchayath had already allocated Rs 5 lakhs for skill training itself.

The fourth phase of the Gender Self Learning Programme was officially launched. Shri. A.C. Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala inaugurated the NHG level campaign of the fourth phase of Gender Self Learning Programme at District Co-operative Bank Hall, Thrissur on 14 January 2019.

Kudumbashree Mission had been framing and successfully implementing different programmes focusing women through Gender Self Learning Programme (GSLP) for the past 11 years. Vulnerability study, crime mapping, Neetham campaign, Pusthaka yatra were the activities implemented by Kudumbashree as the after effect of Gender Self Learning Programme. The themes Women & employment, Women & health Women & mobility had already been discussed in the last 3 modules of Gender Self Learning Programme.

The programme is organised in NHGs through group discussions. Gender Status- Equality & Justice will be the theme discussed in the fourth module.The concept is meant to create an environment for women to learn what empowerment is for themselves and how they should learn to recognize suppression, vulnerability etc. The GSLP programme will be organised at NHGs for 6 months. A book has also been prepared for the self learning process reach to the 43 lakh members in 2.77 NHGs. 300 facilitators from 14 districts across Kerala had been selected and trained. The facilitators will select one member each from every NHGs and thereby equip the NHGs for the self learning programme.

Gender Self Learning Programme could be regarded as the first social educational process that would have direct implications on rights and entitlements of women in grass roots. Unlike conventional women empowerment programmes that adhere to awareness classes, gender self learning programme aims at facilitating neighborhood groups on discussions that reflect on discrimination, violence and inequality. Each woman represented in the network is regarded as a participant, information provider and knowledge creator.

Pink Ladder, the women-only construction unit of Kozhikode Corporation completed the construction of the first two houses. Shri. A. K Saseendran, Minister for Transport, Government of Kerala handed over the key of the first house constructed by Pink Ladder on 6 January 2019. Smt. Nandini, a destitute woman from Karuvasseri, Kozhikode is the beneficiary of the project. Smt. Nandini’s house is the first house constructed by women in the State’s urban belt.

The Pink Ladder has constructed the houses under the PMAY(Prathan Mantri Awas Yojana) Scheme at a cost of Rs 4 lakh each.The women construction group completed the construction of the house in 53 days. The construction group members were trained by the Eksat Training Institute and they completed the construction within 53 days. The houses are also fitted with solar panels under sponsorship.

The Pink Ladder was founded on 1 November 2018. The foundation for the two houses were laid on the same day itself. Both houses are 400 square feet in size, with a bedroom, hall, kitchen, and an attached bathroom. The two Pink Ladder units have 15 members each. The Pink Ladder team is now gearing up to take up more projects

Kudumbashree Wellness Centre is opened at Kunnamkulam Municipality of Thrissur district of Kerala to address the lifestyle diseases caused by the unhealthy food habits. Life style diseases are quite common in Kunnamkulam Municipality. The health issues can be reduced to a large extend by practicing yoga or physical fitness exercises and there arise the scope of a Wellness centre.

Kudumbashree Welless centre is one of the initiatives implemented in Kunnamkulam Municipality after assessing the demand. The wellness centre is launched as NULM individual enterprises for men and women. Named as 'Bull International Wellness Centre' the centre is fully equipped for women and men with adequate parking facility and all are viable for economic and social context. This centre includes a yoga trainer, dietitian and a gym trainer.

The certified yoga trainer of the wellness centre give the three vital components that make the practice whole: breathing exercise, body postures and meditation to the clients. The dietitian works closely with clients who are over weight, have medical illness that prevent them from losing weight , diabetes etc and also help clients make meal plans and change the course of their life with the food they eat each day.The certified gym trainer give the fitness classes which consist of heavy duty treadmill, motorized treadmill, orbit rack steel type machine , leg press machine etc. Smt. Sudha, one of the Kudumbashree member is the yoga trainer and Shri. Jiju Mon, the entrepreneur himself is the certified gym trainer of the wellness centre.

A total of Rs 8 lakhs was invested in the enterprise and was done through NULM bank loan and beneficiary share. Rs 6 lakh was availed as loan and Rs 2 lakh was the beneficiary share. The Wellness Centre have a total of 6 shifts of 1 hour each everyday . A shift can maximum incorporate around 10 persons. Rs 1500 is the fee per month.

The percentage of women who are over weight or obese in Kerala is 28% .The problem of obesity has been particularly increase in urban area ,as there is a drastic change in living standards and life style of people over the recent years.It is for addressing such health issues caused because of unhealthy life style that the wellness centre was launched.

Self Employment Programme Component of NULM focus on financial assistance to individuals/groups of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures/ micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions.

As part of supporting women for self-employment and women empowerment, the NULM City Mission Management Unit took the initiative of forming women construction unit in Kunnamkulam. The NULM City Mission Management Unit conducted a mobilization campaign for Kudumbashree members and formed a Construction unit which consisted 10 members. Training for the construction team was commenced during October 2018 and the training was imparted by Thrissur District Labour Contract Co- Operative Society, an accredited construction agency.

The construction unit had acquired the skill training for various trades in the construction industry like stone bonding, tile works, plumbing, electrical works, well construction, bathroom construction, arch construction, brick level testing, side wall construction, compound wall construction, mason works, painting etc. A loan amount of Rs. 2 lakhs has been sanctioned from the Kerala Gramin Bank, Kunnamkulam branch. During October 2018 itself, the unit started the construction of a PMAY house. Smt.Kani Thulasi is the beneficiary of the house. The construction of the house is carried out under the supervision of Thrissur District Labour Contract Co- Operative Society. The team have the confidence that they can complete work and that they will be able to handover the key soon.