Adding yet another feather to their cap, Kudumbashree Construction Groups take up the construction of PMAY houses at Kollam Corporation. The Kudumbashree Construction groups from Kollam will build 24 PMAY houses at Kollam Corporation. It is as part of rehabilitating the residents at the Alakkukuzhy slum in the cantonment division of Kollam that the houses are being constructed. The houses would be constructed at Mundakkal, Kollam. A total of 20 houses of 500 sqft area will be built in each 3 cents of land.The expenses of the construction would be met from the PMAY fund and the additional amount from the fund of Kollam Corporation. The contract regarding the same had been signed between Kudumbashree and Kollam Corporation on 17 November 2018. As per the contract, Kollam Corporation handed over the land to Kudumbashree Construction groups on 15 December 2018. The foundation stone of the houses were laid by Adv. V.Rajendra Babu, Mayor, Kollam corporation on 31 December 2018.

Two Kudumbashree construction groups from Kollam Corporation will be in charge of the construction of the houses. In addition, constrcution team members from Sasthamkotta, Shooranad, Kottarakkara and those who got trained through NULM, DDUGKY etc would become part of the programme. It is planned to complete the construction works within 1 year time.

The Balagothra Sabha Kalolsavam-Aatam 2018, organised by the Attappady Comprehensive Tribal Development and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Development Project, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Attappady attracted many.  A total of 2000 students from 136 Balagothra Sabhas became part of the three day Balagothra Sabha Kalolsavam held at Attappady.

Competitions were conducted in 70 various items  including tribal dance, drama, elocution in tribal language etc. The youth festival was organised giving prominence to such art forms which were denied in other youth festival. The youth festival was inaugurated by Smt. Leela Santhosh, upcoming movie director from the tribal category. Kallakkara tribal hamlet became the overall champions of Aatam 2018. Pottikkal hamlet and Varagampaadi hamlet came in the second and third place respectively. Gajendran Kulkur won the 'Kalaprathibha' title and Vishnu Priya and Deepa won the 'Kalathilakam' title. The youth festival was indeed a new experience for children as well as the audience.

Mother Kitchen and Take away counter is offering nutritious and healthy food at Kozhikode. Kudumbashree Mission has created its brand in Canteen and restaurants, it has now come out with a diverse concept called Mother Kitchen and Take away counters. The idea behind the concept is that the food would be cooked in a central location kitchen and would be marketed through take away counters or outlets. Mother kitchens menu comprises of nutritious and healthy food. In this busy world, mother kitchen cum take away counter is a helping hand for office personnel’s under Kozhikode corporation.

The NULM (National Urban Livelihoods Mission) team had explained about the innovative projects in an Area Development Society (ADS) meeting and a group with three members from 63rd division of Kozhikode Corporation expressed their willingness to start the Mother Kitchen and Take Away. The group consists of three members from three different Neighborhood groups. Smt. Shyamala from Azhakodi NHG, Smt. Sandhya from Nandanam NHG and Smt. Sunitha from Subhasree NHG are the members of the group. Within limited time, 'Ruchikkoot' Mother Kitchen and Take Away Counter was started on 24 November 2018.

In the initial time the group did’t had a location to set the take away outlet and the same was discussed with Kozhikode District Mission. With the help of Kozhikode District Mission, the unit managed to get the offer to start the Mother Kitchen at Government Veterinary Hospital, Kozhikode. As it is located near to NGO Union office and other different shops, it is really a great opportunity for the Kudumbashree group.

The Mother Kitchen and Take Away Counter was started with a total investment of Rs 2.5 lakhs as loan in the beginning stage and out of that Rs 1.9 lakhs was availed through NULM's Self Employment Programme. The Self Employment Programme focus on financial assistance to individuals or groups of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures or micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions. The under-employed and unemployed urban poor will be encouraged to set up small enterprises relating to manufacturing, servicing and petty business for which there is considerable local demand.

Nataraja Kalasamithi is Kudumbashree's first transgender dance group formed under Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission during November 2018. The Nataraja Kalasamithi was formed by 5 transgenders from Ernakulam district of Kerala. The members of the group include Amrutha, Saya, Faizal Faizu, Mereena and Shalu. Amrutha and Mereena are the President and Secretary of the group.

Almost all the members of the group are trans-women.They were living in Ernakulam for the past five years and had tried so many ways to get some job but nobody responded and finally they went to the Kudumbashree office seeking help. And later they joined Kudumbashree and formed a transgender NHG group named Lakshya. The NHG meets every sunday evening and have started accumulating their thrift. On consulting with Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission they realized that there is a project for them named Prathyasha which provide assistance to start a business.

When they seriously thought of a livelihood initiatives, they put forward the proposal to start a dance troop. Recognizing their talent, district mission also agreed to support them in this venture. The District Mission provided financial support to procure the stage properties. They consulted Ernakulam District Mission co-coordinator and ensured that they will get as many chances for performance. Now they are performing cinematic dance, epic dance dramas and bale. There are another 12 transgender artists cooperating with the troop as per need. Now they are getting more and more stages after each performance. Besides the stages, they perform various art forms in processions of temples, churches and other organisations. They are also getting opportunities to perform for commercial advertisements as well. They also became part of Rangashree, the community theater group of Kudumbashree Mission working to explore the ideas of Kudumbashree towards the community which allocate the members towards the different programs of LSGDs in the district. The team members of Nataraja Kalasamithi is thankful to Kudumbashree Mission for helping them achieve their goals.

Kudumbashree Mission had successfully conducted a training course on the ‘Basic methods in Community Education and Counselling for Community Counsellors of Kudumbashree’ in collaboration with Department of Psychology, University of Kerala from 3-7 December 2018. The valedictory function of the training was inaugurated and certificate distribution was done by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister for Local Self Governments, Government of Kerala on 7 December 2018. The programme was inaugurated by Smt. T.N Seema, Chairperson, Harithakerala Mission and Kudumbashree Governing Body Member on 3 December 2018. Kudumbashree Mr. S Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission interacted with the participants regarding the activities and future plans after the inaugural function. The training was conducted at Kariyavattom Campus, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. 350 counsellors from all the 14 districts across Kerala participated in the programme.

Detail sessions were conducted by eminent academicians and practitioners in eight parallel sessions. The training included wide topics such as counselling skills, yoga, positive thinking, happiness, personal development, premarital counselling, identification of behavioral problems, mental health issues, ethics to be followed, referrals to mental health services etc. Assessment examinations were conducted everyday in all the classrooms. Dr. Tissy Mariam Thomas, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology was the training coordinator of the programme.

There are 350 community Counsellors in the Kudumbashree network to give support and guidance to the community. They are the trained persons selected from among the Kudumbashree members. Community counsellors are involved with gender self learning activities by providing psycho social support, case study and analysis, crisis management, home visit etc. They mostly deal with cases related to gender based violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse, harassment, human trafficking, educational issues of children and referral services. They conduct awareness programmes and deal cases registered in the Gender Resource Centers and counseling centers of Kudumbashree Mission. Over these years, community counselors in the state dealt with a wide variety of cases and given them adequate support needed. The training programme enabled the community counsellors to identify and intervene in the wide variety of programmes they deal with.

Kudumbashree Kannur District Mission launched Mukulam BUDS Balasabha. Mukulam BUDS Balasabha is set up for the mentally challenged students at BUDS Schools, who didn't get chance to become part of Balasabha. The Balasabha started in BUDS schools are collectively named as 'Mukulam Balasabha'. The official inauguration of the Mukulam Balasabha was held at Mattakkal Special BUDS School, Kannur on 3 December 2018 as part of the International Day of Disabled Persons. Kudumbashree Kannur District Mission formed Mukulam Balasabha in all the 14 BUDS schools in the district. BUDS School teachers, staff, parents and elected representatives also became part of the programme.

BUDS Schools are free and open special schools for mentally challenged children of poor families, owned and managed by the Local Self Government Institutions under the support and guidance of Kudumbashree Mission and the community structure. There are 114 BRCs and 88 BUDS Schools in Kerala which make a total of 202 BUDS institutions in Kerala. Balasabha is a collective attempt of children to ensure their participation in the democratic space at the local Government level and in their community. Small Learning Groups for experimental and systematic learning, opportunities for understanding democratic process, participation in conserving environment, enabling children to unfold the intricacies of collectivisation are the basic focal points of Balasabha.

Kudumbashree launched ARISE (Acquiring Resilience and Identity through Self Employment), the state level campaign for extending skill training. The campaign was launched at Thiruvananthapuram on 15 December 2018. The poster of the ARISE campaign was launched by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister for Local Self Governments, Government of Kerala by giving to Shri S. Harikishore IAS, Exective Director, Kudumbashree Mission. The campaign aims at extending skill training to 50,000 flood affected families, 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. The tenure of the training programme will be 3 months. Interested men from Kudumbashree families can 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 are started in all districts, As per this, those who register will be given skill training. Interested people may make registrations at their respective CDSs from 15 December 2018- 1 January 2019. The training will be conducted during 1 Jan 2019 to 31 March 2019. The skill training would be extended through Government accredited training agencies and empanelled training agencies.

Attappady Centre of Excellence was launched by Adv. M.B Rajesh MP at Vayaloor Ooru, Attappady, Palakkad on 15 December 2018. It is as part of the the Attappady Comprehensive Tribal Development and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Development Project, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Attappady that the Centre of Excellence is launched. It is named a 'Mechinappally' which means Centre of Excellence in tribal language.

Centre of Excellence is a community owned Training centre which is managed by the Oorusamithi and it offers services on all the activities of the Attappady Special Project, their culture, livelihoods, different projects run by different departments could be learned from Centre of Excellence. Trained Resource Persons in different themes such as education, institution building, social development, health, livelihood and other facilitators are from the community itself. One could learn the tribal culture, language, arts, administration in ooru, the history of the ooru etc and could be get trained on the themes of education, health, livelihood, social development, career counselling, MGNREGS, Panchayath Raj, planning process, life skills and other activities meant for the development of the community from the Centre of Excellence. Exhibitions on community kitchen, bridge course, traditional livelihoods, other livelihood options, bala gothra sabha, convergence activities with other departments, Functioning of the three tiered structure of Kudumbashree etc are also arranged at the Centre of Excellence.The Centre of Excellence would serve as model for knowing the tribal development of Kerala.

Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission organised Thudi Tribal Cultural Fest splendidly. The one day tribal fest was organised at Malampuzha Grama Panchayath hall during November 2018. Shri. V. S Achuthananthan, MLA and Chairman of Administrative Reforms Commission inaugurated the programme. Shri. V. S Achuthananthan appreciated Kudumbashree Mission for organizing such a mega event, which involved participants from different tribal hamlets. The programme envisaged the upliftment of tribal community to the main stream by empowering their cultural art forms, livelihood activities, ethnic food culture and hand craft products etc. Around 500 tribal Kudumbashree members and their families participated in the function.

Tribal folk play, Kaadar Nritham, Malayar Adivasi dance, Urula Dance and Kottum Muravum Kuzhalum etc was presented at the Tribal Arts Fest.The tribe folk play holds a vital role in transmitting the history, cultural traditions, and the way of living to new generations. Tribal songs and dances are the main media by which transmission is done. Kaadar Nritham is one of the common tribal dance forms of Kerala where only women participate. The performers arrange themselves in a semicircle during the performance. This dance form is popular among the Kadar tribe and is a primitive form. It is simple but a very elegant dance form. The food fest aimed at the promotion of tribal foods and their traditions. Three groups participated and exhibited their traditional cuisines. Main attractions of the food fest were mulayari puttu, mulayari payasam, kasthuri manjal payasam,ragi kali, cholam kali, njandu kari, kappa puzhungiyathum naadan kozhikariyum, pickles made from various forest products, pullu kappi etc.

Tribal fest concluded as memorable event as Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission made it a great success by including the whole tribal communities with a great intention of promote them to main stream of the society. By organizing this program Kudumbashree District Mission of Palakkad could gather around 500 tribal families from various colonies and given broad opportunities to present their inheriting skills in front of mass crowd.

Kudumbashree opened Cafe Kudmbashree Stalls at Kochi Muziris Biennale. The cafe is opened at Cabral Yard, the main venue of the event. It is as per the MoU signed between Kudumbashree Mission and Muziris Biennale Foundation that the Cafe Kudumbashree stalls are installed. Mainly there are two stalls set up at the venue. One is for tea, coffee and snacks and the other is for meals and juices. The Cafe Kudumbashree stalls would are opened by 10 AM everyday.

Varieties of juices are being served through the stalls. Beet berry, cool berry, honey berry, diabetic berry, gooseberry, sweet berry, green berry etc are the other special juices being served through Cafe Kudumbashree stalls. The diabetic berry is made of honey, beetroot and mint. Avil Shake, Milk Sharbath are also available at the stalls. Meals along with fish curry is served at a rate of Rs 50 and ghee rice with chicken curry is served for Rs 120. Different varieties of puttu (steam cake ) made of rice, wheat, oats, corn, tapioca and ragi etc are also available at the stalls. ‘Mutta kilikkoodu’, ‘vaazhakoombu cutlet’ and ‘pazham niravu’ are some of the unique attractions being served at the Cafe Kudumbashree stalls.

During every 20 days, the Cafe Kudumbashree members undergo rotation and the new batch of cafe Kudumbashree members would join and by the end of the event, cafe Kudumbashree members from all districts across Kerala would get an opportunity to be the part of the programme. Around 12- 15 Cafe Kudumbashree members work at a Cafe Kudumbashree stall. The Cafe Kudumbashree members are drawing more food and art lovers to the stalls. They are also expecting more footfalls in the upcoming days.