The District Missions of Kudumbashree have been making notable interventions and activities among the public in their respective districts to ensure the welfare of the people as lock down is notified in the state. Other than mask-sanitizer production, community kitchen services, sharing information through whatsapp and the need analysis of the loan scheme announced by Government of Kerala, the District Missions have launched their own innovative initiatives as well.
Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuam District Mission have effectively involved the Kudumbashree three tier structure and Animal Birth Control (ABC) units in ensuring food and drinking water for the animals and birds, who were struggling during this lock down period as part of COVID 19 countering activities. The ABC units in Thiruvananthapuram district fed stray dogs and other animals like cats and through the NHGs in the district, food and water for birds was also ensured. In Kollam district, Civil Supplies Department had entrusted the Kudumbashree units in the district for making the cloth bags to arrange the food kits. 38 tailoring units and two apparel parks of Kudumbashree in the district are engaged in making cloth bags for Civil Supplies Department. In the first phase, they received order for 40,00 cloth bags, out of which 15,000 cloth bags would be delivered soon. Kudumbashree Kollam District Mission is getting more orders for cloth bags from Civil Supplies Department. In Pathanamthitta,the Joint Liability Groups of Kudumbashree were entrusted with the task of distributing sufficient vegetables to the Community Kitchens functioning in the district during lock-down days. They were preparing food in these places and in five days, Kudumbashree women in Pathanamthitta had managed to provide 1500 kilograms of vegetables for community kitchens. 39,710 people have so far been benefited out of the Community Kitchen initiative in Pathanamthitta district. In Alappuzha district, a novel initiative of Kudumbashree was helping out people in Kainakary in Alappuzha district by providing them with enough supplies to prepare food. Grocery and vegetables come to their doorsteps through the Kudumbashree-operated ‘supermarket’ ferry. Five women from Kudumbashree bring the essential items to help the families in the Panchayath during the lock-down days.
Whereas in Kottayam District, Kudumbashree Snehitha staff and community counsellors are active in Covid 19 countering activities in Kottayam. The decision of joining hands with district administration and health department was taken by Kottayam District Mission after the discussion with the district collector about involving Kudumbashree network for these activities. In Idukki, over 17,000 Balasabha kids in the district are utilising the lock-down time in a creative way. They are participating in 'Akam Puram Nannayi', a programme being organised by Kudumbashree from March 28 to April 14. Personality development and skill development are also part of the programme and it aims to deal with the idleness in kids and make them active, when they are not able to go outside and interact with others due to lock-down. In Ernakulam district, an additional 10 community kitchens started functioning in Ernakulam district alone to provide sufficient food for guest laborers and others during lock-down days. The units led by Kudumbashree are operating full-fledged in the Kochi Municipal Corporation office. Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission has organized a special campaign for the members of the elderly NHGs in the district to effectively make use of this time. The campaign named as 'Innalekalilekk oru yatra' (A journey to the past), enables the members of the elderly NHGs to write their life stories, autobiographies, memoirs etc and send the same to the whatsapp group of ADS through the office bearers of the elderly NHGs with the help of their children or grandchildren on or before 15 April 2020. Through campaigns like these, Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission aims at reducing the mental pressure of the elderly people.
Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission is working spreading awareness about the spread of Corona virus disease among the vulnerable communities in the district. It is on realizing that, it is needed to spread the news about Corona pandemic among the vulnerable communities, Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission started focusing on them. Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission also realized that it is their responsibility to extend services to them. It is in addition to the other services, Palakkad District Mission is extending services to the vulnerable communities. The services are being extended under the leadership of the Snehitha Gender Help Desk staff in the district. In Malappuram, Other than the community kitchens opened in various locations in the district, a community kitchen was opened in the premises of Kudumbashree Malappuram District Mission. The food at this community kitchen is cooked by District mission officials themselves. The food is prepared after taking orders from the nearby locality. The community kitchen opened at Kudumbashree Malappuram District Mission office serves food to around 300 people every day. In Kozhikode,as part of COVID 19 countering activities, Kudumbashree Kozhikode District Mission is supplying the sanitizers to government's essential service sectors. Hand sanitizers that are being used in Government hospitals, police stations, KSRTC offices, Treasury offices in the district, etc are produced by Kudumbashree. In Wayanad, Kudumbashree Wayanad district mission had made a mark in this field of community kitchen way before the same started functioning all across Kerala. The catering unit in Wayanad had extended their helping hands to NRIs in unexpected crisis by giving them food during the Janatha curfew day on 22 March 2020.
In Kannur, tele-counselling was offered by the Snehitha Gender Help Desk in Kannur to bring down the mental pressure among the people during the lock-down days. They focused on providing information regarding the chances of Covid-19 spread apart from offering moral support to those spending time in quarantine and self-isolation. In Kasaragod, even in the midst of Lock-down,the Kasaragod Snehitha Gender help Desk Team was working providing their services and is working in 'Work from Home' mode. The 14 member team including counsellor, service providers and community counsellors are catering their tasks, with utmost significance, that too without losing its significance. Like these, each District Mission had devised initiatives of their own to extend support to the people and ensured their welfare during the lock- down. Kudumbashree system is trying its best for the people to make their lives better during the lock-down days.
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