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Kudumbashree Malappuram District Mission organised Gender Sensitization Programme for Police Officers of Malabar Special Police, the paramilitary unit of the State Police of Kerala. The training programme was organised as part of the Gender Self Learning Programme team of Kudumbashree Malappuram District Mission associating with Malabar Special Police in 18 and 26 June 2019. The officers were divided into four groups and group discussions were conducted. Awareness classes were given on sex and gender. The police officers were then given detailed training on sexual attraction, sexual identity, socialization, male domination etc. Class was also given on the topic 'transgender'. Group discussions were also conducted on Women's Reservation.

  As many police officers who attended the training programme said that the training programme itself was an eye opener on the perceptions towards inter sex, transgender etc. The services of Snehitha Gender Help Desk was introduced among the police officers as well. Smt. Savithri, Smt. Reshma and Smt Febina, members of State Gender Resource Pool led the classes. A total of 102 police officers attended the training programme.

The Buds School situated in Chellanam Grama Panchayath of Ernakulam district did not had a good building of its own and the school was functioning in a very pathetic condition. The main hindrance regarding the construction of the building was the issue of their land falling in the coastal Residential Zone (CRZ) where building construction was not normally permitted. The pitiable condition of the school has been reported many times but no solution has been found. Another important feature was that the school had given birth to many artistic talents who were instrumental in bringing the overall championship in State Buds Festival to Ernakulam district in the previous two years.

Recently the school was shifted to a rented building. Even though the building was a rented one, it was far better than the old one. The concerned Smt. Dani Varghese, Block Coordinator, Social Development who has been a regular visitor there, thought about a convergence model when she visited the school recently to form a special Balasabha of the students there. Being in charge of DDU-GKY scheme as well, she sought the support of a PIA (Programme Implementing Agency) namely KITES Softwares, Palarivattom to beautify the walls of the school. The students undergoing Animation course in  KITES, Abdul Jubab, Arun, Narayanan Kutty Linu Philip, Francis, Sijoy, Muhammed Shinas and Aldub K.A. worked for two days (both day and night) to complete the task .

Necessary materials like paint and brush were collected from nearby shops through sponsorship. After the completion of the work the walls became so attractive with pictures all around. The students of the school are so enthusiastic to see the pictures. It’s a good example of Social Development effectively converging with DDU-GKY in Ernakulam District.

Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission is all set to counsel the jail inmates in the district. The District Mission of Kasaragod came forward with this innovative idea as a humanitarian gesture. The programme is named as 'Nervazhi' Snehitha Outreach Centre, which means the righteous path. The official inauguration of the programme was held at District Jail, Hosdurg on 28 June 2019. The programme would be executed with the help of Kudumbashree Snehitha Gender Help of Kasaragod. As part of the programme, counselling, awareness classes, legal assistance, vocational trainings etc would be extended to the jail inmates. The District Mission had took permission from the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Thiruvananthapuram. As per this, the first programme would be conducted at Hosdurg Jail. On getting further approval, the programme would be extended to Kasaragod sub jail and Cheemeni open jail as well. Counselling services would be extended twice a month.

Counsellors with MSW qualification would visit jail during 10 AM and 4 PM and converse with the jail inmates. Both men and women inmates would be given counselling. Legal assistance would be extended to women inmates who have no one to help. 'Nervazhi' had extended help to an inmate who was isolated as she had not one for herself, even though she had secured bail. She was given temporary shelter at Snehitha at Kanhangad and assistance was given for helping her secure a job of her own.

As per the programme, skill training would be given to the released convicts to stop them from committing further offenses. Assistance would be given to help them secure job as well. "Nervazhi' aims at helping the released convicts to setup better life circumstances.

The Snehitha Gender Help Desk of Pathanamthitta launched 'Veetil Oru Doctor' Programme. It is an innovative programme framed and launched by Kudumbashree Pathanamthitta District Mission in collaboration with Medical Department to provide awareness on First Aid. Two members from vigilant groups of each ward in the district would be given training and they would train one member from each neighborhood group. As part of the programme, 1840 members i.e.,2 members each from 920 wards and 1,57,475 members from 947 NHGs would be given training in the first phase. The programme aims at  having at least one member at each NHG who is aware of First Aid. In the second phase, the programme would b extended to each family in every NHGs.

  The inaugural meeting of the programme was held at Chaathangari  Community Health Centre.  Dr.Mammen Cheriyan delivered a class on first aid and demonstrate first aid techniques to the members. As it is aimed to extend the programme district wide and to ensure this as an initial step,  2 CDSs viz., Nedumbrom and Peringara were selected and  the vigilant group leaders from each ward attended the meeting and learned how to give first aid to people.

DDU-GKY- Kerala SRLM has secured abroad job placement for a fully blind candidate from Malappuram district of Kerala. It is Mr. Ismayil Saidalavi , PwD candidate hailing from Pallikal village of Malappuram district of Kerala, who secured a well paid job at a reputed company in Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates as tele calling executive with a salary of Rs 40,000. The candidate was trained by Samarthanam Trust for the disabled in BPO Non-voice and BPO Voice courses. This is the first ever abroad placement of a fully blind candidate from Kerala.

It was at his peak of the career that Ismayil lost his eye sight. He went totally blank about his career and future life as he was married and had a family to look after. Ismayil lost his job and was in dilemma about the future. He came to know about DDU-GKY Skilling training at Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled at Kakkanad through Kudumbahshree Mission and got enrolled to the training. Ismayil underwent a rigorous training on BPO, communication skills and IT, during the course of the training Ismayil regained his confidence and prepared himself for better career opportunities. Ismayil managed to clear the interview arranged by Samarthanam placement team at AIMS training center, UAE with approx Rs. 40,000/- monthly salary as telesales executive. For Ismayil it is like dream come true and he is very much glad for the opportunity he received.

It is as part of the inclusion of all under DDU-GKY, Kudumbashree has encouraged setting up of exclusive PwD (Persons with Disabilities) centres and as a result two exclusive PwD projects were commenced. Rajagiri College of Social Sciences and Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, were given approvals to commence projects at Kochi, as per the Standard Framework for PwD with target of 150 and 500 respectively. The Rajagiri College had commenced courses viz Book Binder, Front Office Associate and Housekeeping Attendant at the centre whereas the Samarthanam Trust commenced BPO Non- voice and BPO Voice courses for the PwD candidates.

Kudumbashree Mission's Contributions for replicating the Kudumbashree Model of poverty alleviation in Azerbaijan has been felicitated by the Government of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan Rural Women's Association, the apex body of the Women Development and Enterprise Groups set up under the project had won an award from Government of Azerbaijan for their work. It was during that occasion the contributions of Kudumbashree Mission was mentioned.

As part of adapting Kudumbashree model in Azerbaijan and for conducting a scoping study, officials from Kudumbashree Mission had visited Azerbaijan during March 2018. And later, the second phase training was also extended during September 2018. The training was extended under the leadership of Kudumbashree NRO which was recognized by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India, to provide support to other States in their poverty eradication efforts. Government of Azerbaijan had shown interest on Kudumbashree's organisational structure as well as in Micro Enterprises ad vulnerability studies and had approached Kudumbashree Mission during October 2017.

The training for forming women's groups in Neighborhood group model in connection with the Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AZRIP) was extended during the first phase. Training was given for the AZIRP officials for conducting activities related to micro savings and for keeping the cash accounts. Along with the AZIRP officials, Kudumbashree officials visited different centres in Azerbaijan and had given training classes. Based on the first phase training women groups had already been started in Azerbaijan. In the second phase, training was extended for giving loans on the micro savings section and for starting micro enterprises in the livelihood development section.

Along with the products listed from the different Kudumbashree micro enterprises in Kerala, Kudumbashree Bazaar, the E-commerce portal launched to sell out the Kudumbashree products enlisted 'services' icon in the website. Services like catering, daycare, matrimony, event management, dance school and ladies hostel are listed in the Kudumbashree Bazaar website. Just alike buying the products of  Kudumbashree Mission, the customers may avail the Kudumbashree services as well. Under every services, the detailed description of the service micro enterprise units are given. Under the profile of each service micro enterprise unit, the option for registration and login is also provided for the customers to pre-book the same. The photos of every units are also included in Kudumbashree's E-Commerce portal. The process of adding more number of service micro enterprise units are progressing.

Kudumbashree Bazaar, the E-commerce portal  was launched by Dr. K.T Jaleel, the then Minister of Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala on 21 February 2018. In the first phase, different products of 250 micro entrepreneurs were added in the website for sale. Later products of more micro enterprises were added .Quality products from Kudumbashree are now timely delivered to the customers from different parts of the country and thereby the acceptance for the Kudumbashree products had been increased. 

Following  the trends in this digital era, Kudumbashree  Mission acted a little forward and completed the geo tagging of all Kudumbashree Nano Markets in the state. All the Nano Markets under Kudumbashree Mission are therefore marked and is updated in the website of Kudumbashree Mission. Therefore the customer may get the location and directions to the nano market in few clicks. All the 541 Nano Markets are marked in this manner with the help of the respective District Programme Managers and Block Coordinators.

‘Nano Market’ is either an exclusive shelf space positioned in super markets operated by government departments and private players or placing of a shelf in public places in order to sell Kudumbashree products directly to customers, especially in public offices where large crowd assemble for availing various services. The products of Kudumbashree enterprises of a particular locality or block are pooled in to the nearby Nano Markets by the Community Marketing Facilitators and the activity is monitored by Block Coordinators. It is the responsibility of Community Marketing Facilitators to replenish the stock in the Nano Markets regularly. These Nano Markets will have ‘common look and feel’ or branding wherever possible. For the emerging array of Kudumbashree products, making the leap to  the shelves of all leading super markets became an intimidating yet incredibly necessary step to market our products. Shelf space in super markets or in public places not only generate familiarity among customers, but also create trust among potential customers. Indirectly, Kudumbashree products will be positioned in par with its near competitors in Nano Markets. This is particularly important as Kudumbashree Mission does not go for any highly paid promotion activities. It is in this background, Kudumbashree has decided to go for ‘Nano Markets’ in which exclusive shelf space is obtained in existing super markets for Kudumbashree products.

Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission joins District Administration in the fight against Nipah Outbreak. Ernakulam District Mission is providing all the possible helps to the district administration in fighting back the nipah virus. Kudumbashree Mission has been involving in the mission is in two ways viz., by providing food kits to home quarantine cases and by organizing rallies and meetings cooperating with the Health Department, Government of Kerala to educate the common people about the disease and the ways in which the nipah virus spreads.

In providing food kits to home quarantine cases, about 121 families have been identified as home quarantine in the district and Kudumbashree Mission has been vested with the responsibility of providing food kits to these families, if they express any requirement. The activity was started in the Vadakkekara Panchayath of Paravoor Block, where food kits have been provided to four families. The whole Kudumbashree system is given knowledge on home quarantine cases and the system is ready to provide food for the needy in cooperation with the Health Department. Kudumbashree Mission has been organizing rallies and meetings cooperating with health department to educate the common people about the disease and the ways in which the infection spreads to one another. The rallies organised by Kudumbashree Mission was approved by the District Medical Office of Ernakulam and had received wide appreciation for their efforts and social commitment.