34,627 Haritha Karma Sena members under Kudumbashree in the state will get support from Government to celebrate onam this time. The Government has given permission to the Corporations, Municipalities and Grama Panchayats to allocate Rs. 1000 each from the separate fund of the local bodies as festival allowance to the Haritha Karma Sena members. The Haritha Karma Sena members were also granted Festival Allowance in 2023 as well. The action is taken in consideration of the Kudumbashree Executive Director's letter to the Government requesting that steps be taken to provide Festival Allowance in the same manner this year as well.

Palakkad: The first training of Punarjeevanam'- Kudumbashree's Entrepreneurship Development Series to revive the livelihood opportunities in the agricultural sector held at Nirvana Holistic Living, Sholayur, Attappady, Palakkad has concluded. The three day training programme started when Shri. M. B Rajesh, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Excise Department and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Government of Kerala launched the programme and inaugurated the first training of the series online on 12 August 2024. 

On the final day of the  training, Dr. Jisy George, Subject Matter Specialist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kayamkulam, Alappuzha spoke about the Value Addition of Small Grains/ Banana. She explained the need to include millet in the diet and how millets will help in controlling lifestyle diseases like diabetes and pointed out the health benefits and nutrition values of different millets. Dr. Jisy also explained in detail about the value added products such as traditional products, bakery products, extruded products, flaked and popped products, instant food mixes, fortified products and probiotic products. Practical sessions were also held.

Ms. Aswathy, Entrepreneur, V One, Tholikkode, Punalur, Kollam shared her success story during the session 'Women Empowerment through Livelihood-Success Stories of Women Entrepreneurs'. She explained the struggles she had faced in life in becoming a successful entrepreneur. She shared about the training she received, how she launched her product to the market and how she is marketing her product. She demonstrated her products during the training programme and she stressed the importance of labelling and branding while launching a product. She also offered her wholehearted support for the trainees who wish to launch their own products. The presentation of 5 nutritional products prepared from small grains such as Health Mix, Cookies (Spicy), Cookies (Sweet), Porridge mix and Upma mix was also arranged. 

Punarjeevanam will bring about a major change in the agricultural livelihood sector by focusing on skill development required at community level in each district and year-long continuous training and support. Punarjeevanam is a revolutionary step of Kudumbashree in the field of agricultural livelihood. The project was jointly implemented by the Kudumbashree State Mission and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's flagship organization in tuber research, the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI).

A state level review of urban programs, chaired by Mr Durga Shanker Mishra, IAS, Secretary to Govt of India, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation was conducted at Cochin on 03 October 2017.

Kudumbashree is the state nodal agency of Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM). Decision has been taken to expedite implementation of both schemes.

As per Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Programme, working under Central- State Ministries with the mission of achieving 'Housing for All' through Kudumbashree Mission secured the approval to build 7942 houses in Kerala. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee held on 27 September 2017 gave approval for the new projects. Rs 238.26 Crore is sanctioned for the same. Out of which, Rs 119.13 Crore will be met from the Central Government fund. The programme is executed in association with the Central- State Governments and Urban Local Bodies. Kudumbashree is the nodal agency of PMAY in Kerala.

Rs 1.69 Crore for renovating 96 houses also got approval. Kudumbashree checked the projects submitted by the urban local bodies in Kerala and presented it before the state level advisory committee. Finally, the approved ones were submitted before the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee. Approval is granted for building 36918 houses in Kerala altogether. Rs 1107.5 Crore is the estimated amount for building these houses. Construction of 12168 are ongoing and 229 had been completed .

The programme allows Three Lakh rupees for building houses. One and half lakh rupees will be met from the Central Government fund and the rest from State Government and local bodies fund. The programme is framed including the factors such as colony development, credit linked subsidy, affordable housing scheme and personal construction.

Nadariyan field trips are progressing in all districts. Through these field trips, balasabha members explored, researched, studied and thereby understood their culture and tradition. Specially trained Resource Persons directed them for the whole campaign.

Apart from the field trips to their own wards, 26 balasabha members from Kottayam made a field trip to Attapady which was indeed a new experience to the balasabha members of Attappady as well. They had interactions with each other, understood more about the traditional agricultural methods of tribals and danced together for Kammattiyaattam, tribal's traditional art form. They also contributed library books to the children of attappady.

In Wayanad, field trips are almost done and they are yet to publish the findings of the trip as a reference material for future. The balasabha members came up with some new information about the history which was unknown to others.

In all other districts, the campaign is in its full swing. Districts like Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and Palakkad had already completed the field trips. Idukki, Kannur are in the final stage of the campaign. In all other districts campaign is progressing well gifting a new experience of exploration to the children.

The teams studied about the history of the evolution of the name of the places, about monuments, mansions, farming techniques, seed types, old farming tools, traditional art forms, folk arts, rural libraries, rural celebrations, mountains, valleys, rivers, eco system, transportation system, health system, old health treatment methods, health habits, history of all social protests, saving systems etc and made notes out of their findings.

A minimum of 5 students was selected from each Balasabhas of every wards in panchayaths.

Balasabha is a collective attempt to ensure the participation of children 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 collectivization are the basic focal points of Balasabha. There are 43,000 Balsabhas in the state with 7 lakhs children as members.

Through this campaign Kudumbashree envisaged to make the students aware about the rich tradition and culture we possess and to make them able to retain those. Kudumbashree is blissful that we could ensure the active participation of balasabha members in this campaign and thereby help them to retain their roots.

Kudumbashree NRO activities will be extended to 5 more states in the country. The activities for introducing Kudumbashree model of poverty eradication is ongoing in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

NRO's aim is to launch livelihood programmes and developmental activities by converging Panchayathi raj institutions and community based organisation structures. Such a convergence project will be started in Manipur by October 2017. Currently NRO supports Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tripura Odisha and Rajasthan in the Convergence project.

The project has been completed in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. In Odisha the project will be undertaken in six districts and in 40 Grama Panchayats.

NRO will conduct Startup Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chattisgarh as part of livelihood programmes. The MoU regarding this will be signed soon. NRO activities had already been started in Chattisgarh. Presently NRO works in 11 states and 1 Union territory. NRO had received national award from Ministry of Rural Development for conducting poverty alleviation programmes in different states across the country as part of National Rural Livelihood Mission.

Kudumbashree bags the Award for Best Stall in Saras Fair held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat from 15-26 September 2017. Hasthakala unit from Kochi and Bapuji Unit from Kozhikode bagged the award for the best stall and highest sales.

On behalf of Kudumbashree Micro Enterprise units, Smt. Ambika Venu, Consultant, Micro Enterprises received the award from Shri A.K.Singh, Director, District Rural Development Agency, Ahmedabad.

Every year entrepreneurs from Kudumbashree take part in Saras Fairs organised by other states. This time members of Hasthakala unit (Ernakulam), Aavani Unit (Pathanamthitta), Bapuji Unit (Kozhikode) and 4 ME consultants took part in the fair. It is notable that they made a record sale of Rs 5 lakh within 10 days. Spices, ayurvedic products, herbal products, bamboo rice, chips, pickles, rice powder, arrowroot powder, eco friendly bags, honey and other products were available for sale in Kudumbashree stalls. Kudumbashree women consider this as an opportunity to sell their products outside our state. By taking part in saras fair outside Kerala, they are now able to find more market for their business. A marketing team was also set up in connection with saras fair for extending support for them. The products of entrepreneurs who were unable to attend the fair was also collected and displayed by the marketing team. Therefore entrepreneurs from different units could sell their products with the help of marketing team.

Kudumbashree will also take part in tge Saras fair to be held at Vijayawada from 27 September to 8 October 2017. They will also take part in the upcoming sars fairs to be held at Jaipur (Rajastan), Himanya Saras( Utharaghand), Dehradun, Goa in October, Kolkata in November and Bhilai( Chathisgarh) in December. By taking part in saras fairs across the country, entrepreneurs are getting more income and more market for their products.

New Guidelines were launched for making the audit of Kudumbashree three tier system more transparent and efficient. The guidelines was launched by Smt.S Nisha, Director, Kudumbashree Mission during the state level programme of Kudumbashree Accounts and Auditing Service Society (KAASS).

KAASS is the authorised auditing facility of Kudumbashree which include 2.7 lakh Neighborhood Groups, 19,854 Area Development Societies and 1073 Community Development Societies. 324 members of 43 groups are working in KAASS. They are working as the Micro Enterprises unit of Kudumbashree. It is for improving and making the present auditing system more efficient and transparent that new guidelines are launched. Executive Director had already given approval for the same.

It would be an achievement that KAASS auditing will therefore be in a centralized mode from now onwards. The directions for making the audit more accurate and substantial and the time limit for completing the audit as per the bylaw are also included in the guidelines.

Other than the Central-State projects worth crores, financial transactions like bank loan, micro enterprise programmes, government funds are also done through Kudumbashree three tier system. The guidelines will help in preparing a substantial audit report studying this financial transactions.

For making KAASS team more professional, training will be given to them regarding the central government's and other projects. New software will also be launched as part of making the transaction centralized. For ensuring more income to KAASS team, they will also be included in the accounts maintaining training programme of NHGs as trainers. ID cards will be issued and financial assistance will also be ensured.

Geriatric care has become a topic of high importance in Kerala's today's scenario. As per 2011 census, 13 % of the total population of Kerala are senior citizen. And it is estimated that it will become 20% by 2025. And most of them are women.Because of the notable interventions in healthcare sector, Kerala's average life expectancy is similar to that of developed countries. And as a result, the population of senior citizen in Kerala is also increasing accordingly. As per the NSS survey 2015, most of them above 65 years of age are suffering from health related issues. As the families of Kerala had confined to nuclear families, no one is left to take care of senior citizen. Hence, Kumbashree is to launch Care Giver for Senior Citizen to put an end to their isolated life devoid of fun and care.

Kudumbashree has always been concerned about the life of senior citizen of our society. Even though other programmes are there for Senior citizen, 'Care Giver for Senior Citizen' would ensure full time care for Senior citizen.

A team of physically fit men and women under 45 years of age will work in district level as care givers. Proper training will be provided to them by Kudumbashree. Beneficiaries may get their services round the clock through call centres. The facilities will include proper communication services like mobile phones and online services.

A pilot study regarding this will be conducted in Urban local bodies and panchayaths. The senior citizens who stay alone as their dear ones are abroad will be selected for this study. Bystander facility for those who lives lonely, Leisure trips, Day care facilities, assistance for pensioners will also be provided. Therefore through 'Care giver for Senior Citizen' programme Kudumbashree assures secured life for senior citizen. Kudumbashree is getting ready to gift a new life to the senior citizen.

9 Students of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Gujarat joined Kudumbashree as interns as part of the Village Fieldwork Segment of their two years Post Graduate Programme in Rural Management. The students were divided into 2 groups. 6 of them joined Attappady special project and the rest to Enmakaje Village, Kazargode. The internship training will be of 45 days duration.

The Institute of Rural Management Anand is India's leading school in rural management committed to act as the catalyst and facilitator of rural prosperity, who educates those inspired to work with organisations serving the rural sector and engaging directly with rural communities.

During this stay the students will get an opportunity to observe and experience village life and engage in exploring the lives and livelihoods of village residents.They will study in detail about Kudumbashree model of poverty alleviation and the role played by Kudumbashree in uplifting the women to the mainstream of the society.The students will also be able to explore their hopes, aspirations, potential for change and the various constraints they face. Therefore students from different parts of the country will get the opportunity to learn in detail about the livelihood of the villagers and the notable interventions made by Kudumbashree in Kerala.