Family Prosperity through
Women’s Collectives
Thiruvananthapuram
24April 2015
An Introduction to
Kudumbashree
1
Today,
the bank
officer
calls me
Madam
A movement called Kudumbashree
2
Mission Statement
“To eradicate absolute poverty in ten years
through concerted community action under
the leadership of Local Governments, by
facilitating organisation of poor for combining
self help with demand led convergence of
available services and resources to tackle the
multiple dimensions and manifestation of
poverty, holistically”
3
2015
2008
Evolution
Unified bye-laws and
organizational elections
2002
Full coverage in
the State
1998
Launch of Kudumbashree
Mission
1995
1992
1994
Expanded to all Urban areas
Scaled up to entire Municipality; Tested in Rural
areas of Malappuram District as Community Based
Nutrition Programme
Poverty Reduction experiment in 7 wards of
Alappuzha Municipality
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Autonomous Institution of women
Three-tier organization of and by women is the foundation for change
Community Development Society
• Registered apex Federation at the Local Government
level
CDS
• Covers 100% of local governments in the State
ADS
Area Development Society
• Federation of NHG at the ward level
• Covers 98% of the State
Neighbourhood Groups
NHG
• 10 to 20 women per group; one per family
• 261,000 NHG across Kerala
• 4.1 million members
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Working with local Governments
Platforms for convergence between the women’s organization and
local governments make the three-tier model more effective
Gram
Panchayat
CDS
Ward
ADS
Gram Sabha
NHG
A movement called Kudumbashree
6
Synergies from Collective Action
Women working and acting together not only empower women,
but also strengthen their families socially and economically
Social
Economic
Women’
Empowerment
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Institution Building & Capital Formation
• Women's own autonomous institutional network covering
more than half of the families in the State
• Democratic election processs
• High levels of mainstream financial capital formation for
meeting household credit needs, through the NHG
Community Funds
Amount
Own Funds
Rs. 2,073 crore
Bank Funds
Rs. 2,712 crore
Internal Loans
Rs. 8,540 crore
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Community Resources
• Low-cost model of community mobilization and
development action
• Resource Persons and Resource Institutions developed
from within the community
• Enterprise approach to service provision – training,
accounts and audit, business development services
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Enabling women to engage with markets
from positions of strength
What collectives of women can do
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Economic Empowerment
• Self-help and micro-finance to meet family financial needs
• Food production through collective farming on leased land
• Off farm enterprises for milk, egg and meat production
• Non-farm enterprises in production and service sectors,
including hitherto male preserves
• Value chain based interventions based on local natural,
physical resources
• Community based market networks promoting local
economic development
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Achievements
• Food and cash crop production in over 20,000 ha of leased
land by more than 60,000 women from landless or very
small landholding families
• Small businesses with turnover exceeding Rs.400 crores
per annum benefitting 1,20,000 families
• Widely recognized and valued “Kudumbashree” brand in
sectors as diverse as restaurants, food products, soaps &
detergents, taxi services, construction services etc.
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Food Production
• Increase production of food
crops, especially staples and
nutrition providing crops
• Convert fallow land back
into production
• Women as “farmers”
What collectives of women can do
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Garment making
• Garments – home-based to apparel parks
What collectives of women can do
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Crafts
• Artisanal production to branded crafts
What collectives of women can do
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Tourism
• Responsible Tourism – Partnership with Government & Industry
for managing destinations: supply of inputs, restaurants, guideservices etc.
What collectives of women can do
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Transport Services
• Bus service run by women
• Taxi services for women, by
women
What collectives of women can do
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Restaurants & Catering
• Café Kudumbashree - restaurants & food courts
What collectives of women can do
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Nutrition
• Amrutham Nutrimix – Take home ration for Anganwadis under
ICDS; 292 units with 2023 entrepreneurs
What collectives of women can do
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The Kudumbashree Brand
• Among the most popular ‘brand’ in Kerala – Food products,
soaps & detergents, handicrafts
What collectives of women can do
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Enabling community managed social
security for those in need
What collectives of women can do
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Social Empowerment
• Rehabilitation of destitute families through collaborative
programmes of women's organization and local governments
• Special schools at the village level for children with mental
challenges
• BUDS Rehabilitation Centres for rehabilitation of adults with
mental challenges
• Collectives of children for co-curricular learning, citizenship
education and ecological awareness
• Special initiatives for specially vulnerable (social, geographic)
groups
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Achievements
• Over 100,000 extremely poor families supported through
Asraya - community based rehabilitation programme,
managed by women's collectives along with local
governments
• Over 3,000 children with mental challenges from very poor
families, supported for building new lives
• Over 9 lakh boys and girls part of Bala Sabha
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Rehabilitation of destitute families
• Family-wise planning for support; funds provided by Local
Government; implementation support and monitoring by
Kudumbashree network
What collectives of women can do
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Rehabilitation of persons with mental
challenges
• BUDS Schools: Run by the local government; Supported by
Kudumbashree
• BUDS Rehabilitation Centres for adults
What collectives of women can do
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Pain and Palliative care
• Palliative care provided by volunteers from Kudumbashree
network; NHG members providing emotional support
• Supported by Gram Panchayats & Health Department
What collectives of women can do
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Holistic growth of children
• Enabling children to develop in a holistic manner – providing for
co-curricular learning and citizenship education
What collectives of women can do
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Women working together to make the
neighbourhood, community and society
safer for women and girl children
What collectives of women can do
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Women’ Empowerment
• Gender Self-Learning Programme – awareness generation
among women of their relative status in Society
• Collective efforts to address violence against women and
children
• Crime Mapping; Nirbhaya Project
• Snehita Helpline; Gender Corner
• Learning platforms for political education; women in local
politics and governance
• 56% of women elected representatives in the local governments are
from the Kudumbashree community network
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Local Governments and Women’s
Collective working together
What collectives of women can do
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Convergence for MGNREGS
• Very high women’s participation, irrespective of
caste or class
• Women’s access to public spaces, space for
solidarity building and skill acquisition
• Great exposure for women - Self respect and
confidence in doing physical labour, improved
physical fitness
• Primary federation (ADS) as mates
What collectives of women can do
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Perambra Panchayat, Kozhikode district
THEN
NOW
What collectives of women can do
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Kudumbashree beyond Kerala
Nationally, as part of National Rural Livelihoods Mission
• Model of women's institutions working together with
local governments being adapted in other States
• Micro Enterprise Development approach through
community based support eco-system being replicated
nationally into a new Scheme
And, internationally..
• Government of Ethiopia preparing to sign MoU for taking
up community institution building with Kudumbashree
support
A movement called Kudumbashree
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Aajeevika
National Rural Livelihoods Mission
Kudumbashree
Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission
National Resource Organization
Thank you!
Kudumbashree-NRO, III Floor, Carmel Towers, Cotton Hill, Vazhuthacaud PO
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India 695014
keralanro@gmail.com
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