From now onwards wives of Migrant Labourers will also become the part of Kudumbashree Mission. The first of its kind Neighbourhood  Group, exclusively for the wives of migrant labourers was launched at Edayar, an industrial area in Kochi. The NHG came into being during  March 2018 when Kudumbashree’s Kadungalloor Community Development Society (CDS) registered the NHG as Mahalakshmi NHG. The group consists of 16 house wives who hails from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They had undergone a 32 day stitching training under Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission and  would soon set up two stitching units. The units would be registered as startup micro enterprises named Bismillah and Lakshmi.

The NHG came into being as a means to draw the children of migrant labourers in the region to the Government High School, Binanipuram, where the District Administration of Ernakulam piloted a project named Roshni, to bypass the language barrier to educate these children. As it was found to be good to train their mothers in stitching, which could then be turned into a livelihood opportunity, a training programme was organised for them, even though language was a main barrier in training the women. 

The group of 16 received their certificates in basic tailoring on 20 June 2018. Smt. Abida Khatum, hailing from Bihar is the President of the NHG and Bismillah startup unit. Most of them were doing household chores till then. They are looking forward to support their families better and also plans to attract more housewives to join the group. Kudumbashree District Mission of Ernakulam is confident of empowering them and making positive strides in inclusiveness.

By issuing Identity cards Kerala became the first state in the country to ensure the proper inclusion of street vendors in the society. For rehabilitating the street vendors in a proper and effective way new programmes are to be implemented. And as a part of this it was decided to extend skill training to selected 1000 street food vendors. The training programme is being conducted as part of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). It has been designed to provide RPL training to 1000 street vendors this year.During the first phase 200 street vendors from 10 Urban local Bodies would be trained.

The training of the first batch was started at Kottayam District on 20 June 2018. Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), the pioneer institute for tourism and hospitality in Kerala would extend 12 hour training to street vendors in Urban Local Bodies of the state under National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) Scheme. In the proposed training programme the participants will be exposed to the aspects such as food safety & hygiene, procurement of quality raw material, food contamination (physical, chemical and microbial), high risk foods, cross contamination, importance of safe food, quality of water/ice to be used, cleaning sanitation of utensils, effective waste/garbage disposal, table manners and etiquette, customer relation practices and basics of food safety laws.

On successful completion of the training, Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) will issue certificate to the participants. A hand book would also be issued for quick reference along with participation certificate. Prevent outbreaks of food/water-borne diseases from street food vending units, reduce the chances of spoilage of food, ensure quality of street food and health of the customers, effective waste management system for food vending units, understand basic table etiquette, customer handling techniques and enhance business potential of street food vending units, create basic understanding about the food safety laws, rules and regulations among street food vendors, brand the street food vendors in Kerala under a single brand- Kudumbashree etc are the proposed benefits of the training programme.

A large number of street food outlets are functioning across 93 urban pockets in the state. Local flavors are being served at such roadside outlets at cheapest prices. Food borne illnesses of microbial origin are major health problem associated with such street foods and its major causes are lack of proper knowledge in safe food handling, lack of clean environment, sanitation and hygiene, mode of food display, food service, hand washing, sources of raw materials, and use of potable water. If adequate measures are followed it can be prevented. It is highly imperative to give basic exposure to street food vendors about food safety & hygiene, effective waste disposal, table manners & etiquette, customer relation practices and laws, rules & regulations for food safety. It was on the realization of the prevailing situation that the training was planned.

DDU-GKY candidate from Idukki district received the highest salary ever in the placement history of DDU-GKY Kerala. It is Shri. Akhil Babu, 4th batch candidate of ITES trade at Idukki Centre who made this hilarious achievement. Hailing from Kannur, with the qualification of Plus Two, Akhil joined the Idukki Centre of DDU-GKY. Quess Corp was the Project Implementing Agency in which he attended the training. After the successful completion of the course, he joined Eureka Forbes Limited, Kottayam as customer sales specialist (vacuum cleaner) with basic salary of Rs. 8,000/- during November 2017. While he joined, he had to face high competitions from the antagonists. With his sheer confidence in himself and hard working he overcame them and made a milestone in his career life by receiving an additional incentive of Rs. 1,08,757/-. He sold more than 140 products so he got selected as a silver club member in the company. Now he is confident to move forward to achieve the goals. He is grateful towards DDU-GKY for placing him in such a position in which he could excel his best.

DDU-GKY, the skill training and placement programme under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) occupies a unique position amongst the other skill training programmes due to its focus to the poor rural youth and its emphasis on sustainable employment through the prominence and incentives given to post placement tracking, retention and career progression. Kudumbashree SRLM is planning to give skill training to 30,000 rural youth during 2018-2019.

Adding the third canteen on to the list, Kudumbashree Kannur District Mission have been now running three canteens at various campuses of Kannur University. A new Kudumbashree Canteen unit was opened at Mangattuparamb Campus of Kannur University recently. Smt. E.P Omana, President, Kalliasseri Grama Panchayath inaugurated the canteen unit on 18 June 2018.

One canteen had been working in the main campus of Kannur University at Thavakkara from February 2018 and later from May 2018 onwards yet another canteen started working at the Thalassery Campus at Palayad.

Kudumbashree Cafeshree is providing healthy meals and have completely avoided artificial colours and other artificial taste makers. Meals, tea and snacks are made available at the canteen at reasonable rates. Only trained members are working in these canteen units. So far more than 30 enterprises in catering-hotel sectors has been working under Kudumbashree. To make avail the students and public, non adulterated food is the main aim of the canteen units. It also aims at developing a healthy food culture among the students and public thereby inspiring them to live in touch with the nature.

Kudumbashree Micro Enterprise Consultants attended International Labour Organization's refresher training held at New Delhi. Smt. Ambily Bhaskaran, Micro Enterprise Consultant from Kottayam and Smt. Deepa Jayalal, Micro Enterprise Consultant from Kollam, attended the Competency Reinforcement Workshop for Master Trainers and active Trainers of International Labour Organization's Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme held at New Delhi during 4-6 June 2018.

The master trainers of ILO extended training to the MECs on the topic 'Start and Improve Your Business' (SIYB). Gender equality and women's economic empowerment and the ILO tools available for that, Current trends in Entrepreneurship Development-Green Enterprise, Social Enterprise, Sustainable Enterprise, Global Perspectives of SIYB- integrating SIYB into other programmes, Market system and market development approach, the SIYB methodology, participatory training methods, review of individual progress etc were discussed at the refresher training. Shri. Issac Singh& Shri. Khaleel Ul Rahman, Master Trainers, International Labour Organization led the activity orientation sessions.

Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) is currently the largest global business management training programme with the focus on starting and improving businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment for women and men. It supports the sustainable development goals by promoting the business development policies that support decent job creation, entrepreneurship and encourage the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises.It also supports productive employment and decent work for all, including the youth and persons with disabilities.

The association with International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency dealing with labour problems, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities will enable Kudumbashree Mission to create revolutionary changes in micro enterprise development in Kerala. By giving assistance in identifying the most suitable micro enterprises, MECs are extending their full support for the women entrepreneurs. Micro Enterprise Consultants also facilitate training, marketing services and Business counselling as well.

Marking the first anniversary celebrations of its commercial operations, Kochi Metro, the first metro system in the country with an integrated multi modal transport system felicitated the 'super women' of Kudumbashree who had been employed in the Facility Management Department of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL). Kudumbashree women were honored at the programme held at Edapally Metro Station, Kochi on 17 June 2018. Kudumbashree have been providing a vast array of services from customer relations, crowd management, housekeeping and catering services and became the largest crew of women to be employed by any metro. KMRL, along with Kudumbashree, had included persons from Transgender community in its operations, and thus became the first organization to appoint transgender persons as per the transgender policy of the Kerala Government.

The unique aspect of Kochi Metro itself is the deployment of the members of Kudumbashree, the women empowerment-oriented, community based self help groups for managing the operations at the metro stations. Kudumbashree women had risen above all the perceptions and excelled by their performance and hence elevated themselves into a world class work force. As per the agreement between Kudumbashree and Kochi Metro, all the services ranging from parking management to customer facilitation, from ticketing to housekeeping are entrusted with Kudumbashree. The ‘women metro team’ were selected through a rigorous process. More than 40,000 candidates appeared for the written exam, and the selected ones were called for a personal interview and out of them the women team were chosen. Kudumbashree members or their families were allowed to apply for the same.

Kudumbashree made its first major foray into the facility management market by establishing its own Facility Management Centre targeting at providing facility management services to major public and private sector companies. Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) became its first client. Later it has added Vyttila Mobility, Kerala's largest bus station to the client list. Facility Management Centre has put in place a performance appraisal system in which the employee performance is measured and analysed based on the clients feedback and requirements. It also has mentoring and personal coaching program for employees to improve performance. A proper 'Rewards and Recognition' program was also implemented to keep the best performers motivated and committed to the work. To keep the staff updated with the new trends in the facility management markets, the service of the internal training team is also used to continuously train the staff. The staff are also trained on soft skills and business etiquette to exhibit behavioral discipline on the floor. It also has put in place all the legal and mandatory compliance like Minimum wages Act, ESI and PF provisions etc and also has a valid GST registration. Kudumbashree Facility Management Center has today become of an epicenter for providing employment for women by so providing thousands of women employed with its clients.

Kudumbashree invitied entries for the Photography competition and logo designing competition in connection with the Animal Birth Control programme of Kudumbashree Mission. ' Stray Dog Issue' is the theme for Photography Competition. Those who are interested may take part in the competition by  sending their photographs. The entries should be sent on or before 5 July 2018. An applicant can send only one photograph. Photos should be in jpeg format and should be send to abcphotospem@gmail.com

Logos are to be designed for the Suraksha Campaign 2018 campaign, which is being conducted in the state to make the people aware of the Animal Birth Control activities of Kudumbashree.

An applicant can send upto 3 entries. The entries should be of 300 dpi resolution  and 3"x3" size. 5 July 2018 is the last date for receiving logos.The entries should be jpeg format and should be send to abclogospem@gmail.com

Name, address, email id, passport size photo of the applicant, mobile number etc should be attached  alongwith. Rs 10,000 and memento and Rs 5,000  and memento would be given for those who come in first and second places respectively in each competitions.

The Kudumbashree women are busy rewriting history by undertaking works in the construction sector. About 50 houses are under construction by Kudumbashree Groups across the state. 35 houses of LIFE Mission were identified and the construction of 19 houses had already been started. The project aims at creating women construction groups in the state who can take up the construction of houses, buildings and roads. Even though it was targeted to identify 100 units and 30 houses, a total of 140 groups were identified across the state.

On anticipating the huge shortage of labour force in the near future because of various determined Government campaigns of mass housing, it was decided to extend training to women in construction sector so as to form labour contract groups of women entrepreneurs who can take up construction of houses of poor and needy, in addition to taking up bigger projects. Training on construction activities for Kudumbashree members aims to extend skill training for women in various trades in the construction industry for enhancing the skill of the women in construction related activities such that a sustainable income is generated. It is envisaged to form one construction group in each development block and in each urban local body. Those units who would complete the work of more than 10 houses would be given Government accreditation.

The women are being given training in the various governmental schemes in the construction sector such as PMAY, Life, Asraya, Snehaveed etc. Acrredited agenicies like State Nirmithi Kendra District Nirmithi Kendra, Maithri, Habitat, Thrissur Labour Contracting Society, Pinarayi Industrial Cooperative Society, Kerala State Housing Board, Kerala State Construction Corporation, Costford, Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society, Kitco, Eksath etc are extending construction training to the identified groups in the respective districts under the leadership of the the District Mission Coordinators.

During this Onam season, a Mall for women by women would be opened in the State. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall, the exclusive mall for women would be launched by Kudumbashree Mission of Kozhikode soon. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall is the  project by the Kozhikode Corporation Kudumbashree, in association with the Kozhikode District Kudumbashree Mission. The mall located at the heart of the city on Wayanad Road would be launched during August 2018. 

The Mall is the initiative of 10 women of unity group under Corporation Kudumbashree CDS. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall would be an opportunity for the women entrepreneurs of Kudumbashree to market their products. With five floors spread over 36,000 sq ft in 54 cent plot, the project would have 60 shops which would give jobs directly and indirectly to at least 300 women. Preference would be given to Kudumbashree workers and space for women’s societies and private ventures. Women would take care of the mall management and the administration. All the staff  of the mall shall be women. The mall will house all kinds of enterprises such as supermarket, food court, kids park, spa, beauty parlour, women’s bank, fancy stores, textiles and readymades, boutiques, footwear, dry cleaning, car washing, opticals, handicrafts, baby care, home appliances and book stall. Besides, there will be conference rooms, training centres and underground car parking facility. A Food  court  would be set up at the roof top which would cater ethnic food items. 

Smt. K Beena, former CDS President, Smt. K. Vijaya, President, Technoworld, and Shri. M.V Ramzi Ismail, Project officer, Corporation Kudumbashree would be the President, Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Mall. The booking for the shops at the mall is progressing. In addition to the trade fairs and temporary markets,there was the need for a more permanent arrangement so everyone would get a market. Mahila Mall would be launched as a solution to that. Through Mahila Mall, Kudumbashree is about to give all Kudumbashree women under one roof.

Kudumbashree Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs)- Shree Krishna NHG from Kottukal Panchayath of Thiruvananthapuram District and Gramalakshmi NHG of Kaipamangalam Panchayath of Thrissur District received the National Awards constituted by National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for the best performing NHGs from Shri. Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Rural Development, Government of India at the function held at A. P Shinde Hall, Pusa, New Delhi on 11 June 2018. Dr. K.R Shaiju, District Mission Coordinator, Thiruvananthapuram, Shri. Siyad. S, Assistant District Mission Coordinator, Thiruvananthapuramm, Shri. Baiju Muhammed M.A, Assistant District Mission Coordinator, Thrissur, Smt. Mini. A.K, CDS Chairperson, Thrissur, Smt. Prasanna Kumari, CDS Chairperson, Thiruvananthapuram, Smt. Omana Gopi, NHG President, Gramalakshmi NHG,Thrissur, Smt. Najeera, NHG Secretary, Gramalakshmi NHG, Thrissur, Smt. Radhika.O, NHG Secretary, Shree Krishna NHG, Thiruvananthapuram and Smt. Priyanka.V. NHG Member, Shree Krishna NHG, Thiruvananthapuram received the award from the Minister.

The Award was constituted for felicitating the NHGs who had shown outstanding performance. The activities performed during the previous financial year was considered for conferring the awards. The number of NHG meetings called, number of members attended, average attendance of each member, number of members who had attended trainings, total thrift, disbursal of corpus fund, internal lending status, community investment fund availed, corpus fund, total number of bank loans availed, number of units started using the bank loans, annual income, number of entrepreneurs included, scope of the enterprise, income, consistency, number of individual micro enterprises, regularity in keeping register, number of members who have personal bank accounts, ratio of the members who have insurance coverage, ratio of members who have sanitation facility at their homes and the leadership quality were the criteria for conferring the award. As per the guidelines, the respective district missions had submitted selected 3 NHGs from every districts. The selection committee comprising of Shri. S. Harikishore, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission, Smt. Ramlath, Director, Kudumbashree Mission and Shri. Pramod K.V, Programme Officer, selected the best 3 NHGs out of the 42 NHGs selected by the district and submitted to NRLM and out of those 3 NHGs, Shree Krishna NHG from Kottukal Panchayath of Thiruvananthapuram District and Gramalakshmi NHG of Kaipamangalam Panchayath of Thrissur District bagged the award.