Marketing is the key component for the success of any enterprise. Kudumbashree have already developed a brand image in the minds of common people that the products from Kudumbashree are pure and is of best quality. Low market penetration and tough competition from the products and marketing strategies of large scale enterprises was posing a challenge to Kudumbashree products. It is as a solution to this issue, that Nano Markets were launched. In Nano Markets, Kudumbashree products are positioned in par with its near competitors.

Kottakkal Municipality Community Development Society has launched the Nano market at Municipal office with the intention of promoting the market opportunities of Kudumbashree products, to provide a constant income for NULM entrepreneurs, create local demands and provide permanent outlets, increase market visibility and reinforce the brand of Kudumbashree products in the minds of local customers. Kudumbashree Nano Market is installed in the front office of Kottakkal Municipality with the full support of Kottakkal Municipal council. The location is very much suitable to exhibit and promote sales of Kudumbashree products. Variety of curry powders of Kusumam Unit and Soparnika SHG, Pickles of Santhwanam SHG, Powders and dried chilly of Chaithanya SHG, Handmade Chocolates and cakes of Theertha SHG units of Kottakal are now selling their products through Nano Market.  Rs. 750 is the average sales recorded per day. The stock register and sales register are maintained by Community Development Societies(CDS) and entrepreneurs would get  their payments after 15 days. CDS  will get 5-10% commission on the basis of the recorded sales.

Arishree rice, produced from the paddy harvested in fallow lands was formally launched by Dr.T M Thomas Issac, Minister of Finance, Government of Kerala on 25 November 2018 at Milan Ground, Kasaragod.

Mazhapolima was the fallow less village campaign conducted in 37 CDS of Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission  as a part of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) farm livelihood Programme. There were 235 acres of fallow land cultivated in puncha–mundakam season. 134 Joint Liability Groups under different Kudumbashree units have cultivated varies varieties of paddy including puncha,mundakam  with the support of gramapanchayth and Agriculture department.

Mazha polima Best CDS award instituted by Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission was presented to Meenja, Karaduka , Kinanur Karinthalam and Kanchagad CDS. Winners of the Mazhapolima District Photography Competition- Mr.Rajesh O.K (First Place), Mr.Deepash Puthya purayil (Second Place) and Mr. Surandran Madikai (Third place ) were also honoured at the function.

The second phase of Kudumbashree School has been started in all districts across Kerala from 1 December 2018. Over 43 lakh Kudumbashree NHG members from 2.77 Lakh Neighbourhood Groups will become part of the Second phase of Kudumbashree School. 

Kudumbashree School is the informal education programme which is executed coordinating with the NHGs which envisages to improve the intellectual quality of common women. Kudumbashree School training programme was launched last year to create awareness among the Kudumbashree NHG members about their social responsibilities and improve their standard of living through knowledge. 

The classes will be conducted for a period of 7 weeks where each NHG member should spend 2 hours weekly.  There will be a master trainer at the ADS (Area Development Society) level who will facilitate classes at ward level. One master trainer at ADS level will facilitate classes in 7 NHGs. There will be two master trainers, if there are more than seven NHGs in a ward.  Six topics will be present before the members and over 43000 resource persons will be handling the classes at NHG level. Disaster Management and Family Financial management are the two important subjects included in the second phase of Kudumbashree School. After these sessions each family should prepare a disaster management plan and financial plan for reduce disaster situations and improve their standard of living. Each class of the Kudumbashree School will be monitored through a special designed mobile application. 

Kudumbashree School aims at the personality development and social, cultural, educational empowerment of women.The first phase of Kudumbashree School was officially launched by Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Government of Kerala on 21 October 2017.

As a part of the expansion of the Snehitha services, a Counselling Centre was opened in collaboration with the Police Department at Kannur district. The newly opened Snehitha counseling centre is working with all facilities at the campus of the Kannur Town Police Station.The services of Snehitha counsellor would be available on every saturdays from 10 AM to 1 Pm. So far 17 cases were reported from the police reference.

Cases relating to the women and children are directly referred to Snehitha Counseling Centre for counseling and guidance. Through the establishment of the Counseling Centre, cases and short stay services are directly reported to Snehitha. In such situations, Snehitha provides counseling and immediate follow ups. Students are also availing counselling services from Snehitha. The reported cases are mainly related to behavioural problems, family issues and study related problems of children. The centre started working when Mr.Sreejith Koderi, Town Sub Inspector inaugurated the same on 28 July 2018. The details of the project were explained during the inaugural programme.

Apart from this, various programmes had been conducted for children by the Snehitha counseling centre and town police station. The main aim of these activities is to construct a child friendly society, extending counseling activities to nearby schools. In association with Kannur town police station , Snehitha had conducted several programmes for student police cadets as well. In connection with the World Mental Health day, a seminar on the topic' Youth Mental Health' was conducted for Student Police Cadets (SPC) in convergence with Town Police Station Kannur on 10 October 2018 and a total of 40 students participated in the seminar. Snehitha had also organised ‘Kerala piravi’ Quiz competition for high school students, in which 55 students had participated. These programmes helped Snehitha to reach their activities to the society in a different way.

Snehitha Gender help desk is a 24 hours working system under Kudumbashree mission. The main aim of the centre is to provide help and support to those women and children who are in distress and provide voice for their issues and concerns, also to prevent, protect and prevail over domestic violence through advocacy, empowerment and social change. Snehitha is facilitating its services with the convergence of other like minded agencies like legal service authority, police department, Child Welfare Committe (CWC), NGOs and other Government departments. Snehitha is working on the principle of convergence, which is followed by a close interface and collaboration with the service providers and counselors.

Creating a unique ethnic hangout, Vellar, a rocky hamlet situated near Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, would soon enter into the tourist circuit as an Arts and Crafts Village. To become fully functional before the next tourist season, Vellar, with its handicraft stalls, ethnic food joints, and recreational facilities, will gift a genuine Kerala shopping experience for travelers. The craft village will have dedicated facilities for traditional artisans to work and market their finished products. Governmental, semi-governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, charitable societies and skilled individuals may associate with the project.

Kudumbashree Mission identified Arts and Crafts group in Vellar Craft village Project in association with Uralungal Labour contract Co-operative Society(ULCC). The members will be given stipend and food during the training period. The trainings are provided by the experienced faculties inside and outside the state and the training will be extended for a period of 3 months. 98 Kududumbashree members are identified, interviewed and selected for this project.Training had already been started for the crafts group formation like jewellery making, bag making, handicrafts etc. Arts group is formed for Daffmottu, Thiruvathirakali and Margam Kali. The 3 months training has already been started at Vellar Craft village.

The act of social responsibility of the Balasabha members from Bharanikavu Panchayath of Alappuzha district of Kerala is becoming a model for many. The Balasabha members also became part of the Chekutty doll making campaign and made Chekutty dolls, a handmade doll made from the garments at Chendamangalam handloom weavers that were soiled and destroyed during floods.

A block level creative campaign was organised for the Balsabha members at Bharanikav Panchayath Community Hall on 25 November 2018 and 65 Balasabha members attended the training. Shri Muhammed Haneef, a volunteer from Chekutty doll making team taught the members on how to make Chekutty dolls and arranged the raw materials as well. The Balasabha members altogether made a total of 168 Chekutty dolls. The Chekutty dolls made by the Balasabha members would be returned to the team, which would labelled, boxed the same and would be sent to the customers as per the orders received online.

Handloom weavers at Chendamangalam in the Ernakulam district lost their only source of livelihood when the unprecedented floods destroyed their weaving units and washed away all their stock and raw materials. Later, two social entrepreneurs in came up with the idea of making 'Chekutty', handmade dolls out of the soiled garments at Chendamangalam, which had gained much publicity among the public. Chekutty has later become a a symbol of hope to almost 600 weavers at Chendamangalam. All the proceeds from the sales of Chekutty will go to livelihood programs envisaged by the Karimpadam Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Limited No.191 in Chendamangalam.

“A mascot of the emerging Keralam, being rebuilt through our solidarity, resilience and beauty of hearts despite some of the stains and scars that will remain in our lives. Chekkutty has scars.Chekkutty has stains. But Chekutty represents each one of us who survived the floods,” says the Chekutty website. By volunteering for Chekutty doll making campaign, the Balasabha members had also became a part of supporting the weavers.

The Mahila Mall, yet another feather in the cap of Kudumbashree Kozhikode Corporation CDS was launched. Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Government of Kerala inaugurated the Mahila Mall on 24 November 2018. The Mahilla Mall, run entirely by women is a unique project in the country, which is started by ten women of Unity Group under Kudumbashree Mission in an area of over 36,000 sqft. Mahila Mall, located at Wayanad road near Mavoor Road Junction is claimed to be first of its kind venture in the country.

Apart from Kudumbashree workers and groups, women societies and private entrepreneurs will get a space in the mall. 85 percent of the shops are owned by Kudumbashree groups while 15 percent are owned by private women entrepreneurs and other women collectives. Mahila Mall has 6 floors and out of that the 4th floor is allocated for women related offices and agencies while the rooftop is an open air food court. The Mall is designed for the women and is run by the women. All the shops in the mall have been sold out. The Mahila Mall project is executed with the support of Kozhikode Kudumbashree District Mission and it will also help women entrepreneurs to showcase their output in handicraft, fashion designing travel, tourism etc.

Apart from Kudumbashree workers and groups, women societies and private entrepreneurs will get space in the mall. The Mahila Mall provides direct employment to 250 women and indirect employment to 500 women. The mall has 79 shops including health clubs, martial arts centres, spa, skill training centres, food courts, textile shops,etc. The Mahila Mall is an icon of women’s empowerment achieved by Kudumbashree Mission. It provides an opportunity to small entrepreneurs to promote their business with the concept of Micro Bazar inside the Mahila Mall, which is one of the main attractions of the Kudumbashree Mall. There are a total of 24 micro bazaars which will offer customers home-made items manufactured by Kudumbashree entrepreneurs. The timing of Mahila Mall on week days will be from 10 AM to 10 PM and on weekends, the closing time will be extended till 11 PM. 79 ventures in the mall will be directly run by Kudumbashree entrepreneurs. The mall has 2 lift and the area is under 24 hour CCTV surveillance and good parking facility also provided near to the premise.

Kozhikode Corporation CDS had already successfully completed many other projects.

To scale up the farm livelihood sector which engulfs more than three lakh rural women of Kerala some policy interventions were attempted by Kudumbashree Mission Agriculture viz., Agriculture technology fund, Value addition unit fund and organic farming additional incentive package. Agriculture inevitably, needs technology infusion to accelerate the production to feed the growing population. The technology deficit gap needs to be filled on a fast track basis to match productivity ratios with the rest of the country/world. New technologies are needed to push the yield frontiers further, utilize inputs more efficiently and diversify to more sustainable and higher value cropping systems.

Sixty thousand JLGs are currently engaged in farm livelihood activities of Kudumbashree and have been enjoying traditional method of agriculture. Encouraging the farmers, based on the micro environment that basically contain need, demand, feasibility and sustainability of the venture, support structures, convergence opportunities etc., to adopt latest agricultural technologies or innovative enterprises would be beneficial to enter into the next realm of farming activities. Agriculture technological fund was launched during 2018-19 which extends financial assistance for implementing latest agricultural technologies through the adoption of novel technologies including improved varieties, innovative ideas, innovative crop management system, superior post-harvest processing techniques and value addition units etc. The fund supports the interested JLGs in terms of capital subsidy of 40% of the project cost or Rs 2 lakh, whichever is lesser. Tricho card units. VAM units, hydroponics, aqua ponics. rain shelters, tissue culture labs etc are some of the initiatives already identified under this initiative.

Value addition fund extends financial support to interested groups for establishing units in various crops like coconut, banana, mango, jack fruit, pine apple, passion fruit etc as part of the value chain activity. The value addition units would be established by groups based on local availability of the produce and preference of the community. The subsidy scheme is loan linked. Each value addition unit can have a maximum of 40% or Rs 2 lakhs whichever is lesser to each as subsidy for establishment.

Kudumbashree has ventured into the realm of organic cultivation to promote organic farming and agricultural commodities with organic certification. The project launched during 2018-19 envisages bringing 10,000 Ha under organic farming in 201 clusters all across Kerala. This mission expects an involvement of around one lakh Kudumbashree women farmers through 20000 Joint Liability Groups. Realising the fact that there will be yield reduction in the initial years of organic practice and also that the bio inputs are costlier than the conventional inputs it was decided to support and encourage the farmers who venture into organic farming by providing them with 10% additional area incentive from the existing pattern. This incentive will be provided for the first three years of cultivation only and restricted to those who are registered under the organic programme of Kudumbashree Mission.

Kudumbashree Alappuzha District Mission in collaboration with 'Save The Children' NGO celebrated International Child Rights Day. A rally was organised to spread the message on protection of child rights carrying blue balloons to 'go blue' as per this years theme by UN. Rally ended in the Beach where a large canvas was arranged for a mass drawing campaign to spread the message of Child Rights Day. Various programmes were organised for Balasabha members, which was inaugurated by Smt. Daleema Jojo, District Panchayath Vice President and Famous Play Back singer.

An awareness class on Child Rights was extended to the children and Adv. Reghuvaran lead the class.Shri. Sippy Pallipuram, famous children's story writer interacted with the children. Shri..Sanjay and Smt. Geeta, representatives from Save the children, interacted with the children and sponsored 100 T-Shirts,caps and school bags filled with study materials for the participants in the programme and had also participated in the campaign.

'Save The Children' is a global non-profit organisation which was founded in the year 1919 and is India's leading independent child rights NGO, which run programmes in the remotest corners of India and urban areas to provide quality education and healthcare, protection from harm and abuse and life-saving aid during emergencies to children.

The Employment through Skill Training and Placement of NULM is touching the lives of many people. The intervention of Kudumbashree Mission through NULM prospered the life of Smt. Deepa hailing from Parappanangadi with three children and her husband who is a coolie, living in a rented house. The ‘Sparsham’ campaign which focused on social mobilization paved the way towards a change in her life. The campaign was conducted by City Mission Management Unit functioning in the Parappanangadi Municipality and it made inclusive of many poor families who were not aware about the benefits of Kudumbashree Mission. Smt. Deepa being the Secretary, took initiative for forming a Neighbourhood Group (NHG). Simultaneously she took enrollment in 'Ayurveda Spa Therapy course' under Employment through Skill Training and Placement in NULM. Within three months, she successfully completed the course and registered the NHG in CDS office.

She got placement assistance outside Kerala where she couldn’t go as she has to look after three school going children. She was aware of Self Employment Program in NULM. At Parappanangadi the biggest challenge in starting an entrepreneurship is the delay or rejection of SEP (Self Employment Scheme) loans from bank. She was not ready to quit and by taking loan from her thrift and her mother’s thrift in NHG, she started her venture with a total project cost of Rs.41000. At present 19 members enrolled in yoga with a training fee of Rs 1000 per month. The rent of premises costs Rs.5000. Smt. Deepa is happy with her family even though potential risks like free yoga training classes are available in the area. Now she is a volunteer of Para Legal Authority also. As a secretary of her NHG, her wish is to generate income for her NHG member’s families through self-employment programs with herself as an example. She is thankful to NULM, moreover to Kudumbashree Mission for empowering her socially and economically.