Kudumbashree Mission was honoured with a special recognition award for it's efforts in extending the technical support to curate the food court at  Aajeevika Mela held at India Gate Lawns, New Delhi. The Aajeevika Food Court set up by Kudumbashree as part of the Aajeevika Mela came to an end on 23 October 2019  attracting masses. The Aajeevika India Food Court was organised by Kudumbashree from 10-23 October 2019 under leadership of Ministry of Rural Development, National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The fourteen day event witnessed participation of more than 120 entrepreneurs from 19 States. The Food service units from Kerala, Goa and Bihar were awarded first, second and third for their performances respectively in the food court. Food service Units from Attappady and Transgender unit from Ernakulam received special recognition for its efforts in taking towards their social and economic empowerment.   

A closing ceremony was held on 23 October 2019 which was graced by the presence of Director General, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, Additional Secretary Ministry of Rural Development, Joint Secretary Ministry of Rural Development and Director, National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The closing ceremony was an occasion to remember and honor the efforts of Self Help Group families and the agencies involved in making Saras Aajeevika Mela and Aajeevika India Food Court a grand success. Smt. Navaneetha, one of the entrepreneurs from Telangana shared her experience of participating in Aajeevika India Food Court and how the 14 day experience was a great exposure and knowledge enhancement for her. As part of the closing ceremony, two books, 'Flavors from Rural Heartland', a recipe book and 'From Homemakers to Taste makers- Story of her Deli', a coffee table book on woman entrepreneurs in food service were also launched which were developed by a team of professionals from Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation.

Kudumbashree Mission received a unique opportunity and responsibility to manage and coordinate the food court of ‘Aajeevika Mela’. Kudumbashree was entrusted with the duty of organizing the food fest of the Aajeevika Mela because of the initiative and experience of Kudumbashree in organizing food courts along with trade fairs. The event was a great hit among the Delhi masses who enjoyed the heart-warming cooking of the entrepreneurs and was indeed a golden opportunity to 'taste' different flavours of India.

Nutrition Garden Mobile Unit, the new innovative venture of Kudumbashree was launched at Attappady. Smt. Sreelakshmi Sreekumar, Panchayath President, Agali Grama Panchyath inaugurated the Nutrition Garden Mobile Unit. The Attappady Nutrition Garden Mobile Unit is launched as part of the Attappady Comprehensive Tribal Development and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Development Project. The organic vegetables, pulses and tubers cultivated at the 10 selected hamlets of Agali as part of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) farm livelihood Programme would be brought to the community kitchen in the hamlets of Attappady. The nutrition gardens are set up to ensure nutrition. 32 Nutrition Garden units had been set up so far. Each unit cultivate in about 2 to 4 acres of land. Kani Gulume, the enterprise unit would collect the products of the Joint Liability Groups and would bring to the community kitchens. It is also planned to extend this initiative to other hamlets as well.

Attappady Special Project (Attappady Comprehensive Tribal Development and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Development Project) is the project being implemented by Kudumbashree in the Attappady block of Palakkad district of Kerala. The project aim to uplift the social and economic status of Irula, Muduga and Kurumba tribal communities of Attappady. It was the pilot project of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), Ministry Of Rural Development, Government of India, which envisaged the formation of exclusive institutions of tribal people for bringing in sustainable development in Attappady. Kudumbashree functions through women neighbourhood groups (NHGs) aiming at their development and empowerment. Kudumbashree Mission implemented this innovative idea of formation of exclusive neighbourhood groups for the tribal families in Attappady for bringing social development and empowerment. This project, which was launched at Attappady in 2014 with a big vision has moved much forward with many notable achievements in hand.

Kudumbashree would hand over the keys of the houses built for the residents of Alakkukuzhy, constructed by Kudumbashree women construction groups on 23 October 2019. The 20 families who were living in bad conditions at Alakkukuzhy slum would therefore be rehabilitated to newly constructed houses of 500 sqft each. Rs 1.75 crores was the total project cost of Alakkukuzhy project. The Kollam Corporation entrusted the Kudumbashree women construction groups for building these 20 houses one year ago. Kudumbashree women construction group members were able to finish the entrusted work with good quality, keeping up the professionalism. They were able to complete the work with dedication and commitment, two months before the stipulated time and could handover houses to the authorities of Kollam Corporation.

The contract regarding the construction of the 20 houses was signed between the Executive Director of Kudumbashree Mission and the Kollam Corporation during November 2018. The construction works were started on 1 January 2019. Phoenix Construction group of Kottankara Panchayath of Kollam district of Kerala provided the leadership for the construction activities. In addition to this, Kudumbashree women construction group members from Sasthamkotta, Kallada, Ezhukone, Thrikadavoor also became part of the construction works. The works was completed with the hard work of 32 Kudumbashree women. The Shivashailam of core group and Devi group of Padinjare Kallada had also made their active participations during the construction works. The project worth more than 1 crore was therefore completed by Kudumbashree team keeping up high quality, time limits, and without any escalation of costs. When 20 families start living in these houses built by Kudumabshree Women Construction groups, it would be a new chapter in the history of Kudumbashree Mission.

Kudumbashree Mission's Arts Festival 'Arangu' will be held at Palakkad from 1-3 November 2019. Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala will inaugurate the festival at Govt. Victoria College, Palakkad on 1 November 2019. The Arts festival is organised by Kudumbashree Mission in association with Local Self Government Department. More than 2000 Kudumbashree women would take part in the procession which is proposed to be held prior to the inaugural function.

The three day Arts Festival will take place at the 6 venues named Karuthamma (Govt. Victoria, Palakkad), Indulekha (Govt. Moyans LP School, Palakkad), Suhara (Fine Arts Society, Palakkad), Nanimistress (Govt. Victoria College Auditorium, Palakkad), Sumithra (Govt. Victoria College Auditorium, Palakkad), Chemmarathi (Govt. Victoria College Ground, Palakkad). 1904 women from 14 districts across the state will take part in 34 competition items. The competitions are arranged in Junior and Senior sections. Those within the age limit 18-35 would come under the junior section and those above 35 years would be considered in the Senior section. Light Music, Fancy Dress, Mappila Pattu, Mono Act, Folk Dance, Mimicry, Elocution, Recitation, Drawing (Pencil), Poetry Writing, Drawing (Water Colour), Story Writing, Cartoon, Collage, Kathaprasangam, Group Song, Group Dance, Folk Song, Drama, Oppana, Margamkali, Thiruvathira, Skit, Mime and Shinkarimelam are the 34 competition items in which the women would compete with each other.

A competition was held for designing the logo for Arangu Arts Festival. The logo designed by Shri. Muhammed Safuvan, Student of Azharul Uloom Islamic College, Aluva, Ernakulam was selected as the logo of Arangu Arts Festival from the 13 entries received during the competition.The logo was designed incorporating the ideas of Freedom, Equality and Participation. The Arts Festival would be an opportunity for the women to present their artistic talents before the society.

Kudumbashree Mission celebrated International Rural Women's Day. Different CDSs in the state celebrated International Rural Women's Day organizing various programmes. Awareness classes, felicitations for the women who have proved their strengths in various sectors etc were organised in connection with this. The United Nations has dedicated October 15 as the International Day of Rural Women. Starting from agriculture to food security, nutrition, land and natural resource management, domestic care and work, rural women are at the forefront and are taking charge. 'Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resistance' is the theme for this year.

Kudumbashree Kannur District Mission organised Moovandan Fest in the district. The programme aimed at producing value added products from mango, ensure better market for it, which would help the Joint Liability Group members and other agro entrepreneurs earn better income of their own. The Mango fest was organised at Thaliparambu Town Square, Kannur. 

The programme was organised by collecting mangoes from the Kuttyatoor CDS, Mayyil CDS, Malappattam CDS, Ulikkal CDS, Udayagiri CDS, Pariyaram CDS, Thaliparamba CDS, Cherupuzha CDS, Eramam Kuttoor CDS, Payyanur CDS, Ezhom CDS,  Kannapuram CDS and Cherukunnu CDS.  More than 70 value added products were produced viz., Mango Halwa, Mango Ice, Mango Dosa, Mango Samosa, Mango Masala, Mango Sauce, Mango Idli, Mango Chappathi, Mango Cake, Raw Mango Juice etc. In addition to this, Women Agro Meet, Agro Seminar, Open Agro Quiz, poetry competition for Balasabha students and District Mission officials were also conducted. By organising Mango Fest, they could help the women find a better market for their agro products.

Kudumbashree's international partnership with Azerbaijan is making fruitful results. During 2017, Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AZRIP) team visited India to study various models of livelihood promotion for women groups as they wanted to start a pilot project of ‘women’s activity group formation’ for inclusive economic empowerment. After ascertaining that the ‘Kudumbashree model’ of livelihood promotion and women empowerment has the larger scope of convergence in their country, they invited Kudumbashree Mission to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AZRIP) is a world bank supported project being implemented in Azerbaijan from 2005 (in various phases). The project aims at developing the basic infrastructure in the rural areas. Further project envisages development of economic activities and livelihood programmes.

Shri. Sebastian Molineus, Regional Director, World Bank had shared a note through his twitter handle after visiting Massaly of Azerbaijan which itself could be considered a measure of the success of the project. (Twitter Post)

During 2018, a four member team from Kudumbashree went to Azerbaijan for the initial scoping study and to provide a 10 day training. Kudumbashree aimed at training the master trainees of AZRIP project, who in turn will train the interested women entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan. Kudumbashree's team visited different places in Azerbaijan including Separadi in Massaly, Chakrili in Lankaran and Gysa in Balakan and understood the field reality and needs and framed the training as per requirement. The master trainee team were given classes on ‘Kudumbashree Model’, Neighbourhood groups, activity groups, livelihood promotion methods and on women empowerment activities. 16 people including the community mobilisers of AZRIP project and livelihood specialists took part in the workshop as master trainees. During the time of initial training itself, 56 women came forward to form 4 Activity Groups. As of now, with the participation of 468 women, 38 enterprise units had already been started in Massaly of Azerbaijan. They are coordinating more than 100 business projects. The success of this project, which is being implemented with the support of World Bank is also the success of the international interventions of Kudumbashree.

It is a moment of pride for Kudumbashree that our team is capable of framing a training programme at any place in the world after assessing the country’s requirements and are able to provide the required assistance/ support/ knowledge to ensure continuity and growth. The Azerbaijan Rural Women's Association’ is the network of ‘Women Development and Enterprise Groups’ in the country. When they bagged an award from Government of Azerbaijan for their activities, Kudumbashree's contribution was also mentioned.

Snehitha @ School is a special initiative programme of Snehitha Gender Help Desk was launched. The programme  was inaugurated by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at the function held at Government Higher Secondary School, Puthuveli, Kottayam on 4 October 2019.

The programme was piloted in 3 schools in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It was on finding the programme to be successful that the same was extended to all other districts. It was started to extend the services of Snehitha to the adolescent students in the district, to help them to ventilate their personal, behavioral, family and learning issues. From the cases reported at the Snehitha Centres, it was understood that the violence against the children and their issues should be addressed. And it was understood that there exist the need of personality development training and gender development activities among the children. Snehitha would act as a 'friend' to the students. The support of the legal clinics functioning at the Snehitha Centres would also be made use of at the 'Snehitha @ School' programme.  The service of Snehitha counsellor will be made available in the school, which would benefit the teachers, students and parents. Also, the services of Snehitha @ School would be available at the school if any emergency comes.

Kudumbashree mission launched E-Nest for the geo-tagging the 43 lakh Kudumbashree families which would smoothen the Micro Plan preparation from the grass root level. The programme was inaugurated by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at the function held at Chaithanya Pastoral Centre Auditorium, Thellakom, Kottayam on 4 October 2019.

The programme aims at identifying the needs of the families with the help of Geographic Information System. On understanding the needs of the each families, plans would be prepared and compiled bin the ADS level and in the CDS level and would be included in the priority project lists of Local Self Government Institutions and Kudumbashree. The survey for the programme would be started soon.The data received would be checked by the officials and plans would be prepared in NHG level, ADS level and CDS level.

Social Development Plan, Livelihood Plan, Livelihood Plan, Basic Development Plan and Resource plan would be prepared in the NHG level. The micro plans of the NHGs would be compiled in the ADS level and the ADS plans are prepared. In the CDS level, the ADS plans in the area is compiled and is submitted to the Local Self Government Institutions. From the suggestions received from the CDS level would be compiled in the district level and would be submitted to the district/ block panchayaths. The need analysis would be carried out in the district level and the Kudumbashree District Missions would submit it to the Kudumbashree State Mission. Based on this, Kudumbashree would modify the future projects for the families. Kudumbashree had already been implementing the projects like Yuvashree, Prathyasha, Destitute Free Kerala, Snehitha calling Bell, Special NHGs etc. E-nest would help smoothen the Micro Plan preparation from the grass root level.

Mother Kitchen from North Paravur started supplying food in steel boxes to Kochi Metro Rail Limited. They had tied up with Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) for supplying homely food in steel boxes to the employees of Kochi Metro. The freshly prepared homely food is packed in steel boxes (dabbas) and are distributed to the employees of Kochi Metro. The food is served by the Mothers Kitchen functioning at North Paravur which functions under the North Paravur CDS of Ernakulam district.The Mothers Kitchen was set up as part of the Self Employment Programme Component of National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). Kudumbashree Mission is the nodal agency for implementing the centrally designed programme, National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) in Kerala. The Mothers Kitchen functions under North Paravur City Mission Management Unit.

The dabba system stands out unique that only Rs 40 is charged per meal which includes rice with sambar etc including fish curry. The steel boxes are later collected and are brought back to the Mothers Kitchen. The unit is now distributing food in 100 dabbas now. They are making an income of Rs The members of the unit makes around Rs 8000 as monthly income.

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 metro stations. The Mothers Kitchen is also serving food to the Metro canteen.