Kudumbashree

Women in Kerala

Kerala is a state with several achievements in the social development of women and in the balance of gender status has stabilised in many fronts, the details of which are available from the government website on Kerala Women

Mission

The mission of Kudumbashree is “to eradicate absolute poverty in ten years through concerted community action under the leadership of local governments, by facilitating organization of the poor for combining self-help with demand-led convergence of available services and resources to tackle the multiple dimensions and manifestations of poverty, holistically”.

Objectives

The specific objectives are:

1. Identification of poor families through risk indices-based surveys, with the active participation of the poor and the communities to which they belong.
2. Empowering the poor women to improve the productivity and managerial capabilities of the community by organizing them into community-based organizations (CBOs).
3. Encouraging thrift and investment through credit by developing CDSs to work as informal bank of the poor.
4. Improving incomes of the poor through improved skills and investment for self -employment.
5. Ensuring better health and nutrition for all.
6. Ensuring BASIC amenities like safe drinking water, sanitary latrines improved shelter and healthy environment.
7. Ensuring a minimum of 5 years of primary education for all children, belonging to risk families.
8. Enabling the poor to participate in the decentralization process through the Community Development Society (CDS), as it is a subsystem of the local government, under which it works.

To achieve the specific objectives of the mission, several auxiliary objectives are pursued methodically.

History

Kudumbashree, a female-oriented, community-based, poverty reduction project of Government of Kerala. Kerala is an Indian state lying in the south-west part of Indian subcontinent, where many development experiments are being tested, refined and implemented.

The mission aims at the empowerment of women, through forming self-help groups and encouraging their entrepreneurial or other wide range of activities. The purpose of the mission is to ensure that the women should no longer remain as passive recipients of public assistance, but active leaders in women-involved development initiatives. Kudumbashree movement was launched by former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee at a function chaired by the then Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty at Kottakkunnu in Malappuram on May 17, 1998. The program has derived from the works of Fr. Edwin John in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, who started the movement called Neighborhood Community Network. An out come of NCN is Neighborhood Children's Parliament has got UN recognition as the best Children's empowerment program.

Organisation

The following are the community structures suggested for the rural side:

The paradigm shift in the approach is that any woman who is residing in the Grama Panchayat can become a member of the Kudumbashree Ayalkoottam irrespective of whether she is in a below poverty line (BPL) family. Since this aspect gives an opening for the above poverty line (APL) families to enter into the community structures envisaged by Kudumbashree, it is further ensured that majority of the office bearers should belong to BPL families. These structures give added importance to women empowerment both social and economic.

Strategies

The action plan charted out for Kudumbashree is:

Informal banking system

The three-tier CDS system, envisaged for poverty alleviation in Kudumbashree approach, will take up the informal banking responsibility also. The poor women should be able to approach the informal banks whenever necessity occurs. The doors of the banks should be open for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. The informal banks are formed with the active involvement of every member belonging to the Self Help Group. An Informal Bank doesn't need an office building, furniture and other paraphernalia we normally relate with a formal bank.

The strength of an informal bank is the intimate relationship between the members of the Self Help Group. The members know each other's potentials weaknesses and problems. The members can deposit even trifle amount in the thrift scheme of the banks. Informal bank always tried to encourage saving habit among poor women. An informal bank can provide collateral free loans with the terms and conditions decided by the group. The Self Help Group behind the informal bank is free to fix market driven rates of interest for advances. Every operation of an informal bank takes place in the group level, including depositing of thrift amounts and sanctioning of thrift loans. The groups itself decides the eligibility of a member to get assistance from the bank after discussions and assessment of the need and repayment capacity.

The very existence of an Informal Bank brings about the homogeneity and affinity among members of the poor. Thrift savings of the members serve as the main bondage among members. The bank promote regularity in savings and assures sufficient frequency for group meetings. The informal banks will instill collective decision-making capability among the poor women. This sublime quality will be of great assistance to them for their fight against poverty and their participation in planning process and economic development activities. Informal banks will slowly do away with the subsidy syndrome prevailing in the lowest stratum of the society. The poor women will begin to enjoy the unique pleasure of doing things with their own money. The financial empowerment of women achieved through thrift and bank accessibility will improve their status in their own families and society. Naturally, their confidence will increase. Above all Informal Banks provide loans to the poor women at their own doorsteps without any hassle.

Once the informal banks of the NHGs, ADSs and CDS reach a certain level of maturity, they can grant loans to the members for genuine needs. Poor need financial assistance for several purposes, falling under four major categories.

Micro-Enterprise development

Supporting and sustaining micro enterprises has always been a challenge for development administration. Problems of scale, capability, market and vulnerability do not offer easy solutions. In the recent past Kudumbashree has been attempting to analyze and resolve these problems specifically and jointly, both by increasing the interface with the LSG and the entrepreneur regarding existing programmes, and by bringing new strategies and new programmes that help converge resources and address arising issues proactively and creatively.

Milestones at a glance

In contrast with the previous poverty eradication programmes there are no specific financial and physical targets set for Kudumbashree. Kudumbashree practices a process approach and not a project approach. Milestones of the Mission, at a glance, are as follows:-.

Programme Implementation Team

The activities of Kudumbashree mission is controlled by a state level office, headed by an IAS officer and at district level a District Mission Team. At the panchayat level a charge officer is given the responsibility of the administration along with the CDS governing committee. The officials are government employees working on deputation with the mission. Besides, part-time consultants and experts are also engaged for specific tasks. The executive directors of Kudumbashree:

1. Sri James Vargehes IAS, the first Executive Director and served the organisation from 1997-1998
2. Sri T.K. Jose IAS, the main person behind the growth of Kudumbashree. He developed a team of passionate employees to work in the mission and started innovative programs like Ashraya (destitute rehabilitation project), Bhavanashree (microhousing), Vidyashree (IT@School units), Balasabha (forum for children), Clean Kerala Campaign (collection and disposal of solid waste), Clean Destination campaign (maintenance of tourist destinations by Kudumbashree workers) and numerous micro enterprises, ranging from computer to coconut oil production and food items to mini-bus service. One major development was the tie up with the state Department of Social Welfare to supply special nutritional supplements to the children in Anganwadis - under the name -Nutrimix- which has enabled thousands of rural women to manufacture and supply the nutritional supplement to their children all across the state. He was given the India vision Man of the Year award in 2007. Kudumbashree received most of the national and international recognition during his tenure.
3. Smt. Sharada Muralidharan IAS, the third Executive Director.
4. Dr. K.B. Valsalakumari is the fourth Executive Director.
5. Shri A. Shajahan, IAS is the fifth Executive Director.
6. Shri Harikishore IAS is the sixth and present Executive Director.