Kudumbashree marked the 23rd Anniversary, extending services to the public, amidst the crisis caused due to covid-19 pandemic. Kudumbashree members all across the state are partnering in various activities such as running the Janakeeya Hotels, extending services as part of the Rapid Response Teams converging with the LSGIs, coordinating the IEC (Information, Education, Communication) activities, counselling services in the local level, delivering essential goods to the door steps of the households etc.

It was on 17 May 1998, Kudumbashree, the poverty eradication mission of Kerala came into being. Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India officially inaugurated Kudumbashree Mission. Since then, Kudumbashree had been conceptualizing and implementing innovative ideas for poverty alleviation. Kudumbashree is moving forward with the best of its activities, aiming at the local economic development, social development and women empowerment for the last 23 years. 
 By that time, Kudumbashree could turn into the cornerstone of the growth of Kerala society.  Also, in addition to effectiveness in planning, Kudumbashree focused on convergences and actual field implementation and thereby became an integral part of foundation for the development of Kerala.

On completing 23 years, Kudumbashree has grown to a network and system that involve itself for the welfare of people of Kerala  and ensures social development and empowerment in some way or the other. Kudumbashree has transformed into a National Resource Organization that gives guidance to other states in India in activities of convergence, livelihood and women empowerment. Kudumbashree also provides consultancy in framing policies for poverty alleviation and for developing training modules for other countries. 

Every year, the anniversary of Kudumbashree is celebrated in all its glory. Various programmes were organized in the NHGs, ADSs, CDSs, in districts and at state level as part of the anniversary.  But, no special programmes were organized this year and the last year.  Most of the Kudumbashree members observed the anniversary by indulging themselves in various covid-19 countering activities, extending their services. The positive changes brought in the society through Kudumbashree  are the results of the sacrifice, hard work, dedication, self less efforts and services of as many women and families.

Awareness programme Series on Covid-19 War Room activities has been started. The awareness programme is jointly organised by the Health Department of Kerala, Local Self Government Department War Room, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), and Kudumbashree. The awareness programme series was inaugurated by Smt. K. K. Shailaja, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Government of Kerala, on 13 May 2021. The programme aims at spreading awareness on the spread of the second wave of covid-19 pandemic to each and every household as most of the people are getting affected from the same. The awareness classes are scheduled to be held on 15, 17,19, 21 and 23 May 2021 at 2.30 PM. Eminent doctors and the concerned officials would clear the doubts of the public. 

The elected representatives of the LSGIs, ward level committee members, war room nodal officers, volunteers, officials working in connection with covid-19 countering activities, Kudumbashree staff, office bearers of CDSs, ADSs and NHGs, training team members, KAASS members, Micro Enterprise Consultants, Jagratha Samithi members, community counsellors, office bearers of Balasabha, BUDS teachers, DDUGKY trainees etc have attended the awareness programme. The zoom meeting was streamed through the facebook and youtube channels of KILA. Dr. P.T Zacharia, State President, IMA, presided over the function. Shri. S. Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree introduced the project.  Dr. Padmakumar, Professor of Medicine, Medical College, Alappuzha, led the class on taking care of covid-19 patients at households. Dr. R.C Sreekumar, Chairman, Research Cell & Digital IMA was the moderator of the programme. Dr. P. Gopikumar, State Secretary, IMA Kerala delivered the welcome speech. Dr. Joy Elamon. Director General (DG) Kerala Institute of Local Administration, also participated in the programme.

Kudumbashree joined hands with Supplyco for the home delivery of essential goods during the lockdown. This service is now available at 95 Supplyco outlets across the state. The customers may place their orders through phone or whatsapp and following that, the respective Kudumbashree members would deliver the essential goods at the door steps. One can apply for upto 20 kilogram in a single order. In the first phase, home delivery of essential goods would be available within 10 kms around the outlet.

The orders will be received till 1 PM and the goods will be delivered during the afternoon.  Rs 40 is charged for the delivery within 2 kms. Rs 60 is charged for the delivery within 5 kms. Rs 100 is the delivery charge for delivering the goods within 10 kms. The customer may pay the bill amount to the Kudumbashree member who delivers the goods at their doorsteps. This service is now available in all the major Supplyco Supermarkets. The details of the supermarkets, where home delivery is available and their contact numbers are listed in Supplyco's official website. As of now, 2 Kudumbashree members are entrusted in every outlet for the home delivery service. If the orders increase, more Kudumbashree members would be entrusted for the same. Kudumbashree considers this convergence as an opportunity to serve the public, overcome the crisis caused by covid-19 pandemic.

Amidst the lockdown notified in the state to contain the community spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission launched 'Kshree Radio', the community radio service of Kudumbashree Kasaragod District team. The community radio was launched by Ms. Baby Balakrishnan, President, Kasaragod District Panchayath on 10 May 2021.  Kshree Radio is launched to disseminate news and other important information from the Government, directly to the Kudumbashree members and to the general public. Thereby, the Kshree Radio also aims at avoiding the spread of fake news. 

The news bulletins are broadcasted everyday at 8 PM. The news bulletins are presented by Kudumbashree members and also by Kudumbashree staff including District Programme Managers. Kudumbashree members in the district are working with the District Rapid Response Team, Panchayath Help Desks, War Room etc. The news bulletins are prepared including the reports from those areas. It is also conceived as the IEC (Information, Education, Communication) activity for the vaccination campaign and also spread the news of the covid countering activities.

The programme of extending media training to Kudumbashree NHG members associating with Media Academy, the State Government Institution which extends training in the media sector, has been started. The training of the first batch has been completed and the training of the second batch is ongoing. Shri. S.Suhas IAS, District Collector, Ernakulam had given away the certificates to the participants of the first batch who successfully completed the training, at the function held at the Collector's Chamber, Collectorate, Ernakulam.

Those who received prior training as per the Mediashree Programme were selected for this training. The training is extended for 27 members who expressed their interest to take part in the programme. The training was started  from 15 February 2021 onwards and will come to an end on 8 March 2021. The training is being provided in two batches which consists of 14 and 13 members respectively maintaining the covid protocol.
 
It is expected that the members would be able to handle the camera well and take good quality photos and videos using the mobile phone, once this ten day training programme would be complete. It is hoped that they will be able to function in the media sector by identifying the opportunities in the local level. Kudumbashree expects that they would be able to secure a livelihood opportunity in this sector once they will start getting the opportunities from Kudumbashree as well.  The training of the first batch was held during 15-25 February 2021. The second batch training would be held during 26 February 2021- 8 March 2021. 

The classes are led by the eminent personalities in the visual media, photography and videography sector.The topics such as photography, videography, video editing etc are dealt during the 10 day training. It is anticipated that this training, which is being extended under the leadership of Media Academy would bring greater changes in their life.

Kudumbashree Disinfection teams which were formed under the leadership of Kudumbashree for countering covid-19 pandemic have secured an income of half a crore rupees. Kudumbashree formed disinfection teams in the enterprise model so as to make maximum of the opportunity received in a new sector as most of them had lost opportunities in various sectors due to the crisis of Covid-19 pandemic. Kudumbashree disinfection units were formed after giving proper training, as the agencies providing services for the disinfection in the districts could not meet the demand because of the rise of Covid-19 cases. Kudumbashree Disinfection teams were able to make income of more than half crore rupees in the last five months.

Mostly, Haritha Karma Sena members came forward to form such units for earning additional income. Persons who are not part of Haritha Karma Sena have also formed disinfection teams. 704 people across the state were extended training in disinfection activities under the leadership of the officials of the Health Department and Fire and Rescue Officials. Out of them, 653 had made registrations in the enterprise model and have started 118 enterprises. Out of these enterprises,105 of them are actively functioning now. They have received 2309 orders until now and have secured income of Rs 51,07,296 through this.

Kudumbashree entrepreneurs could secure a better income during this crisis situation. It is expected that these units will receive various opportunities to disinfect the polling booths in connection with the upcoming Legislative Assembly Elections as well. Those who wish to avail their services may contact them. By forming Disinfection Units in the enterprise model, Kudumbashree was able to make best interventions to resolve an important social issue.

Kudumbashree has bagged the National Award for efficiently implementing the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) programme in Kerala for the assessment year 2019-20. Kudumbashree is receiving this Award constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India for the third consecutive year. During 2017-18, Kudumbahsree had secured third prize and during 2018-19, Kudumbashree had bagged the second prize. Now, Kudumbashree has secured the third prize again and has been able to make a hat trick achievement. Kudumbashree could steadily sustain the best performance at the national level. Kudumbashree received the  letter confirming the award from the Government of India. 

The special feature of the Award is that the prize money is given as additional financial allocation for the project implementation. During the last two years, Kudumbashree had additionally received Rs 6 crores and Rs 9 crores respectively as Kudumbashree had bagged the awards.  Kudumbashree has received the intimation from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India that we would additionally receive Rs 6 crores as we had secured the award this year.

During the last four years, Kudumbashree had bagged as many awards in the national level in addition to the award received for the NULM Programme.  During this period, Kudumbashree had secured more than 10 National Awards. National Award for the excellent implementation of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) skill training programme for three consecutive years,  Best Performance Award constituted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for the efficient implementation of the bank linkage of the NHGs,  the Best Practice Award constituted by HUDCO for completing the construction of the houses of  Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana -Urban (PMAY-U)-LIFE through Kudumbashree Women Construction Groups are a few among them.

The software for monitoring the functioning of the Janakeeya Hotels was launched by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at the function held at Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Thrissur on 17 February 2021. In addition, the Honourable Minister released the book prepared on the details of various Janakeeya Hotels functioning across the state during the meeting.

The software for the Janakeeya Hotels was prepared through the Start Up Mission. The software was designed by a company named as 'Collabel', after completing the procedures at the Start Up Mission. The bills of the Janakeeya Hotels will be given through E- PoS machines. The details of the daily meals would be available at Kudumbashree website, once these details will be entered through this software. In addition, the stock register and accounting activities of the Janakeeya Hotels could be entered through this software. The details and bills of the rice bought from the Civil Supplies Department to the Janakeeya Hotels will also be entered in the software. The entrepreneurs of the Janakeeya Hotels will be provided with training for using this software from next week. It is expected to start using the software at all the Janakeeya Hotels from 1 March 2021 onwards.

The book prepared on the Janakeeya Hotels has 140 articles altogether. There are 10 articles each from all the 14 districts.

The number of Janakeeya Hotels, the hotel chain that serves meals at Rs 20 across the state, has now become 903. It is expected to achieve the target of completing 1000 Janakeeya Hotels by 31 March 2021.

Kudumbashree is allotted special shelf space at 500 outlets of Supplyco. Shri. P. Thilothaman, Hon. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Kerala officially inaugurated the programme on 11 February 2021. Shri. A C Moideen, Hon. Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala presided over the meeting. The space is allotted at outlets such as supermarkets, hypermarkets and people bazaars for marketing Kudumbashree products. The shelves for the inauguration were set up at the Supplyco Hypermarkets at Vazhuthacaud and Sreekaryam of Thiruvananthapuram district.

As per the contract between Kudumbashree and Supplyco, Kudumbashree products would be available for sale at the retail outlets of Supplyco in Kerala. Shelves of dimension, 1.5 x 0.90 x 0.3 metres (height x length x width) are allotted for Kudumbashree products. Various products of 10 entrepreneurs such as curry powders, pickles, flour etc would be made available through these two centres.

The convergence programme with Supplyco is the new step of Kudumbashree in the marketing sector. Supplyco has around 1600 retail outlets such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, people bazaars, maveli stores in Kerala. Supplyco has agreed to give a special shelf space at the outlets (supermarkets, hypermarkets and people bazaars).It is expected that about 4000 Kudumbashree entrepreneurs will get benefited when 500 Supplyo Retail Outlets across the state would start selling Kudumbashree products.

The activities for arranging the products at these centres are coordinated under the leadership of Kudumbashree MECs (Micro Enterprise Consultant) and sales team. They would also coordinate the activity of arranging the products at regular intervals as per the stock. Kudumbashree envisage arranging this marketing opportunity for Kudumbashree entrepreneurs at 500 locations within the upcoming 60 days. In the second phase, Kudumbashree's marketing team would analyse whether we can market Kudumbashree products through Maveli stores, based on the feedback received on the first phase.

The prizes for the winners of 'Kudumbashree Oru Nerchithram’ Photography Competition 2019- 20 (Season 3) was distributed by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at the function held at Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Thrissur on 17 February 2021. Shri. T.J Vargheese, Thaivelikkakath House, Pachalam, Ernakulam had bagged the first prize.The Award consisting of Memento, Certificate and cash prize of Rs 20,000 was presented to him.

Shri. P.P Ratheesh, Photographer, Mathrubhumi Palakkad unit came second and Shri. Dinesh Insight, Adithi Nilayam, Kottakanni, Kasaragod came in third place. Award consisting of Memento, Certificate and cash prize of Rs 10,000 was presented to Shri.P.P Ratheesh and award consisting of Memento, Certificate and cash prize of Rs 5,000 was presented to Shri. Dinesh Insight. The jury consisted of Shri. G. Pramod, Chief Photographer, Deshabhimani, Shri. V. Vinod, Chief Photographer, Information and Public Relations Department, Smt. U.S. Rakhi, News Photographer, and Smt. Asha Vargheese, Director, Kudumbashree Mission had selected the winners.

Kudumbashree Mission which envisions eradicating poverty through women in Kerala, conducted the photography competition for motivating the aspiring photographers and to propagate the activities of Kudumbashree Mission through photographs.The contestants were directed to submit photographs that reflect the various activities of Kudumbashree Mission. Rs 1000 each will be issued for 10 entries as consolation prizes. K.Pramod, Praveen Kumar, Ashok Manaloor, Rakesh Puthur, Sibin Bahuleyan, Akhil. E.S, Tojo P Antony, Shiju Panthalloor, Sumesh Kottiyath, N Elango Gopan are the Consolation Prize winners.

The Photography Competition was envisaged realising that the best photographs depicting the hard work of Kudumbashree members would further boost the women empowerment process. The third season of the competition was held from 1 January 2020 to 29 February 2020. Good quality photographs portraying the strength of Kudumbashree, functioning focusing on women empowerment is considered for the ‘Kudumbashree Oru Nerchithram’ Photography Competition, which is being conducted from 2017 onwards. Like the first two seasons, the third season had also received good responses.