The biggest natural disaster in Kerala was happened during August 2018. Lakhs of people have faced huge loss in the disaster. The Government of Kerala had announced the interest free loan facility for flood affected families named as Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme. The Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme is aimed to provide immediate financial support to regain the life and livelihood and to hold and pacify those who stands in misery along with the loss of this state followed by impact of the worst natural disaster faced by Kerala.

The Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission was authorized to facilitate the bank loan as per the RKL Scheme up to Rs 1 lakh to family head for the purchase of domestic appliances and other purposes. As per the scheme, the beneficiaries may buy utensils from the registered dealers in 40-50 % discount from the market rates. The selected companies have made necessary arrangements to make avail the utensils, products to the beneficiaries in discounted rates through their accredited dealers/ stockists in each districts.

Interested Kudumbashree members who are the beneficiaries of the State Government grant of Rs.10000 are eligible to get bank Loans upto Rs.1 lakh and the interest of the loan at 9% will be borne by the government and applicant should be a member of Kudumbashree Mission was the eligibility criteria. This scheme was implemented as a Kudumbashree loan. As per the scheme, maximum of Rs 1 lakh is given to one Kudumbashree member. The applicant should be a member of the Kudumbashree Mission and the repayment period is fixed as 36-48 months. The loan repayment installments is arranged in a step up mode in NHGs. A total of 1,42,715 Kudumbashree members have submitted applications in the CDS through 21,204 NHGs which have been submitted to the bank. So far the banks have sanctioned loan for 9039 NHGs which consist of 58,871 beneficiaries. Under this scheme Rs.463 crores has been sanctioned so far.

Parents always complain about the learning disabilities of their children. But they doesn’t think about the reason behind the complaints they have raised. Most of the parents are leading unhappy life in mental conflict by laying all the complaints on the children and putting all the guilt on the teachers. Nowadays many parents are finding it difficult to the capacity and capability of the children and thereby to provide the education needed. It is very important that the parents and teachers should know the issues and solutions, which children faces during their school life and which hinder them to perform well. It is seeing this aim ahead that the Child Guidance Clinic was conducted.

It was on 10 November 2018, the Child Guidance Clinic was inaugurated. The programme was jointly organized by Vellangallur Grama panchayath and Kudumbashree Gender Resource Centre. After the launch, Child Guidance Clinic was conducted to understand the learning problems of children and a counselling session was also arranged for parents.The Child Guidance Clinic was attended by various students from kindergarten to higher secondary classes. The programme was announced two weeks before through ward members and CDS members. The registration was also started simultaneously with the announcement of the programme. As per this initial process about 70 students registered for learning disability assessment. The Child Guidance Clinic was conducted by arranging separate counters in the hall. In order to recognize and understand the learning problem areas, special assessment sessions were conducted by the experts in the field of remedial education. The screening was lead by Smt. Nisha T.S and Smt. Bini Paul, who are working as Community Counsellors in Thrissur district. On progress, the learning disability assessment counselling section was conducted by Smt. Priya Antony, Counsellor, Snehitha, Gender Help Desk and Smt. Jomi Jinson, Community counsellor, Vellangallur Gender Resource Centre. From the assessment of the participated children , it was found that the eight children has learning disability and 30 children in need of remedial education.

Kudumbashree Mission in association with Kerala State Coir Corporation is conducting a coir mat production training for women in the Alappuzha District of Kerala as part of PK Kalan Project. The training is provided to the women between 18 and 50 years of age. 60 women in 3 batches have been working in the cluster of south panchayaths in Mararikulam Village of Alappuzha. The first batch training was started on 8 January 2018 as Dr.Thomas Isaac, Minister for Finance and Coir, Government of Kerala inaugurated the programme.

The second batch was started on 8 March 2018 and the third batch was started on 1 October 2018. The training period is of 4 months tenure. The first two batches are already completed. The beneficiaries are paid Rs 225 and food during training. After the completion of training, Rs 300 per day will be deposited in bank account as monthly basis and the proportionate amount would be deposited to those who work more based on the quantity of the coir mats they produce. The working hours are from 9 AM to 5 PM. Kudumbashree Mission provide skill training as well as social skill training for the trainers. During February 2018, a one day trip was arranged for the trainers to Ernakulam. In the month of April, the trainers' family get together and the medical camp was also held.

PK Kalan Family benefit Scheme was launched for the development scattered tribal families in Kerala. Project formulation for each settlement shall be based on a micro plan through participatory rural appraisal tools conducted by Oorukoottams. Extensive consultations with the line departments is also necessary in participatory rural appraisal and resource mapping and also in finalizing the implementable action plan. Each micro plan has to be duly prepared and approved by the concerned District Collector .

DDU-GKY training centre Jan Shikshan  Sansthan- Malappuram  introduced an online learning mobile application for students. The switching on of this learning app was done by  Shri. P V Abdul Wahab, MP on 4 December 2018. This app can be installed in the tablet computer of the students. Each student will have an individual username and password which they can log in and attend the test series. Each test is prepared by the trainers,based on the classes he took. Every test is time bound and a student can attend  the same only one time.The student may also review his answers after each test.The same app can be used by the NULM (National Urban Livelihoods Mission)  students also. Also an alumni group of the automobile students was formed to strength hold the future placements of the training center.

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.

Following the success in extending the state of the art facility management services to Kochi Metro Rail Limited, and Ernakulam Vyttila Mobility Hub, Kudumbashree also took up the fee collection in Vyttila Mobility Hub. Kudumbashree Facility Management Centre acquired the fee collection contract for collecting parking, bus entry, toilet user fees etc through open tender. The contract regarding the same was signed between Shri. T.P Geevargheese, District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission and Smt. R.Girija IAS, Managing Director, Vytilla Mobility Hub. Kudumbashree took up the duty at midnight on 8 December 2018 and started fee collection.

Along with the house keeping and security services, Kudumbashree women had also been taking care of gardening sector as well. It is on following the notable and successful implementation of the services provided in Kochi Metro Rail Limited, that Kudumbashree Mission was entrusted with the facility management services of Kochi Vyttila Mobility Hub. By taking over the fee collection Vyttilla Mobility Hub, Kudumbashree became in charge of all the management services of Ernakulam Vyttilla Mobility Hub. Vyttila Mobility Hub is an integrated transit terminal in the city of Kochi, designed as a converging point of various forms of public transportation, such as local and long distance buses, metro rail and inland water transport.

The Cake Fest organised at Perinthalmanna of Malappuram district of Kerala under the leadership of Kudumbashree Malappuram District Mission attracted masses.The cake fest was organised at Rits Hall, Perinthalmanna, Malappuram on 8 December 2018.  A sale of Rs 4.12 lakh was recorded at the cake fest. More than 1400 people visited the cake fest.The exhibition and sales of different types of cakes including instant cake, lava cake, black forest cake, white forest cake, gold cake, vancho cake, strawberry cake etc were arranged at the cake fest.

Along with this, the sale of  wine, pudding, lollipop, french snacks were also arranged. The exhibition and sales of the handicrafts made by Kudumbashree members in Malappuram District arranged at the Cake fest added more color to the programme. 26 Micro Enterprises from various places across the district became part of the cake fest. 11 Micro Enterprises making handicrafts also participated in the programme. The cake fest was wholeheartedly welcomed by the public.

Kudumbashree Mission ties up with Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) for supplying homely food in steel boxes to the employees of Kochi Metro. Its on getting inspired from the Dabbawalas of Mumbai, that the dabbawala service of Kudumbashree is launched.The freshly prepared homely food is packed in steel boxes (dabbas) and are distributed to the employees of Kochi Metro. The service was launched during the last week of November 2018. It is Kudumbashree Mission’s Micro Enterprise-Samrudhi Catering based at Choornikkara panchayath, Aluva of Ernakulam district, which prepares food for the employees and supplies the same among the KMRL employees across the 16 Metro stations in Kochi.

The lunch orders are placed by the Kochi Metro employees before 10 AM everyday and once the food is prepared, the Kudumbashree members gather with their dabbas at Muttom station from where they separate to different metro stations to distribute the food. Kudumbashree members are permitted to travel on metro trains free of cost for distributing the food. As of now, they are sticking on to the usual meals for lunch but on progressing, they plans to provide more options as well. The dabba system stands out unique that only Rs 40 is charged per meal which includes rice with sambar, curd, and fish curry or fry or chicken curry. The steel boxes are later collected and are brought back to the Micro Enterprise unit. The unit is now distributing food in 100 dabbas now.

Kochi Metro is maintained environment friendly. The dabbawala system was implemented to discourage the employees from bringing food in plastic containers and with the launch of the dabbawala system, there has been a decrease of plastic waste across all the 16 metro stations.

Thinking out of the box and thereby making a difference, Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuram Mission launched a courier service in Kadinamkulam CDS of Thiruvananthapuram district as a micro enterprise unit. Kudumbashree Courier Service was started during October 2018. Courier services are particularly useful for people that sell products online and need a shipping solution for sending multiple parcels. Kudumbashree Courier Service offers faster and more secure service and delivery.

Smt. Jeetha who is the President of the unit had a past work experience in courier service and so she is managing all the services of Kudumbashree Courier Service along with the other four group members. Kudumbashree Courier Service had even made a tie up with a private professional courier agency for domestic and international courier services. It is also planned to take initiatives to expand the services of Kudumbashree Courier Service to more areas. They are also managing an online bus/train ticket booking services as well. Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuram District Mission had provided necessary financial assistance to this group.

The Gender Youth Movement for young girls was launched at Ernakulam by Smt. Asha Sanal, District Panchayath President at Kakkanad, Ernakulam on 24 November 2018. Gender Youth Movement aims to provide self defense training, training for improving the artistic and athletic potential of members, workshops that inculcate leadership skill, assertiveness and personality development through residential programmes. 

The Gender youth Movement, through its convergence with other national and international agencies focus to support the members with carrier excellence as well. The study tours and camps would help  to explore certain unfamiliar areas and opportunities in this present trend of sedentary youth-hood. Instead of being  like a ‘couch potato’, the  gender youth movement aims to develop vigorous young people through blending with the’ Snehitha’s Calling Bell Support Programme’. The activities include house visits and interaction with the Snehitha Calling Bell support recipients and rendering voluntary service to tackle the needs of support recipients or beneficiaries.

Though Kudumbashree have ‘Balasabha’ for children till the age of 15, there is no such initiative for young girls after 15, during which girls freedom are limited due to security issues. Women act wisely and confidently when their physique is strong enough to defend any violence against her, which is to be developed from very young age. In order to maintain their gap and to bring a change in the present stereotype, gender youth clubs  named ‘Gender Youth Movement’ are formed in 101 Panchayaths, for young  girls, between the age of 15 -29 years. The youth clubs are formed with any numbers, not less than 10, in each CDS and one affiliated to the Kerala state youth Welfare Board and the Nehru Yuva Kendra.  

Gender based discrimination against women is pervasive across the world. The patriarchal world always treated girls inferior to boys and this had been deeply engraved in the mind of girls even from their childhood. When we analyse the cases registered in Snehitha from its beginning in 2013, it’s understood that, in most of the atrocities against women and girls especially in POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences ) cases the accused are either a relative or a person who is close to the victim, rather than a stranger. When boys are allowed to stroll outside with peers, or to involve in any recreational activities, girls are restricted inside like a ‘domesticated parrot’. 

The gender youth club can ensure the social participation of young girls without any gender bias and improves the confidence and self esteem of members. Through club activities eminent women leaders in Kudumbashree in local self governing can be developed in the upcoming future. A good percent of more than half of the Kerala women population are mainstreamed through Kudumbashree, but still the issue of women security and equal participation to be discussed and enacted further. Staying together help to defeat vulnerable situation. An able bodied, yet vigorous generation of women can be developed through Gender Youth Movement.

Kudumbashree Mission will partner with the fourth edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale which is proposed to be held at Fort Kochi from 12 December 2018 to 29 March 2018. The MoU regarding the same has been signed between  Shri. S. Harikishore  Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission and Shri. Bose Krishnamachari, President, Muziris Biennale Foundation in the presence of Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister for Local Self Governments, Government of Kerala  at Minsister's Chamber on 3 December 2018.

Kudumbashree will be the major food partner of the event. In addition to the Kudumbashree food court, the manufacturing and sale of handicraft products made by Kudumbashree workers would also be arranged  at Cabral Yard, the main venue of the event. The talents of the workers, including their artistic skills, will  be exhibited during the event. A total of 20 units of Cafe Kudumbashree will serve mouth watering cuisines from Travancore- Kochi-Malabar areas through the Kudumbashree food courts. A video on Kudumbashree  Mission will be played at the venues  on daily basis. ‘Varayude Penma’, the unique art outreach initiative, which gave positive reviews in the previous edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale will be conducted in this edition too. A seminar on Women Empowerment led by Kudumbashree Mission’s Gender wing would a be arranged during the event. A play by Rangashree, the community theater group of Kudumbashree Mission would also be staged during the Kochi Muziris Biennale. Fourth edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale would be led by its first woman curator Smt. Anita Dube and  over 50% of the participating artists would be women. 

 Shri. K P Anil, Private Secretary to Minister, LSGD, Shri. Santhosh Kumar, Assistant Private Secretary, Shri. V Sunil, Secretary, Kochi Biennale Foundation, Shri. Bony Thomas, Treasurer, Shri. S. Rajendran Nair, Development Officer, Smt. E. Priya, State Assistant Programme Manager, Kudumbashree were also present at the function.