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Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum Initiative aims at building a Kerala model of People’s Plan and democratic decentralization in the post-disaster recovery process after the unprecedented floods and landslides that affected 11 out of the 14 districts of Kerala during August 2018. The project attempts to bring people’s voices and feedback into the process of building a more resilient Kerala and the same is now being implemented by Kudumbashree Mission in association with UNICEF, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Local Self Government Department, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Sphere India and Ridhi Foundation.

As per the initiative, feedback would be collected from the affected communities and be submitted to the Government for further activities.The project is being conducted in the administration of 489 Local Self Government Institutions in 7 districts. The project will take into account the needs of the unprivileged, women, children, specially- abled and geriatrics. Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum Initiative will give information support to the areas like health, nutrition, education, child protection, shelter, hygiene, food security and livelihood. The Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum Initiative was launched after piloting in the affected grama panchayaths of Alappuzha and Wayanad districts of Kerala during October-November 2018 in the first phase and later during December 2018- March 2019, the second phase, with additional gram panchayaths in 5 more districts leading to a total of 489 most affected panchayaths across 7 districts.

The Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum Initiative aims at enabling a connection between on-going development planning processes and humanitarian responses and recovery while also contributing to preparedness and resilience-building for future disasters, should they occur. Building on the evidence and lessons learned over the recent years during disaster response across the world, the initiative aims at empowering affected populations and ensuring that they have a voice in rehabilitation and reconstruction decisions.

The rationale for the initiative is the need to focus more to 'Build Kerala Back Better' with stronger and resilient communities, systems and services. It aims at institutionalizing community-led engagements for Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction planning process. The key objectives of the project include improving communities’ access to information about recovery, reconstruction and support assistance available to them and ensuring that they could provide their views on their post-disaster needs by communicating their issues and concerns to the government authorities. Apart from hosting the programme, Kudumbashree Mission would ensure the availability of the Resource Persons training including CDS, ADS and NHG staff, guide the implementation of the community mobilization initiative, interdepartmental mechanism for use of data for informing recovery and reconstruction decision making at state/district level. Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum Initiative had also developed a website - www.kudumbashreejpp.org for updating the progress of the project.

Kudumbashree Wayanad District Mission had recently organised Lasitham Residential Camp for Balasabha students. The programme envisaged at improving the quality of the children and giving them training in Indian arts free of cost and thereby improve their talents.The Lasitham Residential camp was of 6 days duration. The arts performance of 700 students who completed residential training was also conducted along with the programme.

Kudumbashree Wayanad District Mission had launched this initiative associating with Spic Macay ( Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth), a non-political, nation wide voluntary movement founded in 1977, which intends to enrich the quality of formal education by increasing awareness about different aspects of Indian heritage and inspiring the young mind to imbibe the values embedded in it.

The residential camp and performance were held at Government High School, Kaniyambatta and Sarvodaya Scholl, Echom. Trainings were given in bharathanatyam, mohiniyattom, mural paintings, yoga, manipuri, ottam thullal, nangyaarkoothu, puppet dance etc. Eminent artists Ms. Deepthi Parol, Ms. Deepa Saseendran, Ms. Abhayalakshmi, Shri. Kalamandalam Vijayanand,

Ms. Vidya Pradeep, Shri. K.R Babu, Ms. Sinam Basu Singh, Shri. Kalamandalam Mohana Krishnan and Dr. Aparna Nangyar gave training in the respective art forms. Lasitham Residential Camp was received wholeheartedly by the Balasabha students as it was a warm experience for them which nourished their artistic talents.

Kudumbashree Mission had  joined hands with Harithakerala Mission for launching Jalasabha in neighbourhood groups with an aim of fighting against water scarcity . Awareness classes would be organised in all NHGs as part of Jalasabha programme. As World Water Day is observed on 22 March, special NHG meetings would be conducted as part of the Jalasabha programme  in all NHGs in the state from 22 March- 31 March 2019.

During the Jalasabha special NHG meeting, discussions and activities will be arranged based on the pamphlets prepared on the topic 'Water is life', which would be circulated among the NHGs through Kudumbashree Community Development Societies (CDS). The pamphlets have drawings and text which give suggestions on how to conserve water during water scarcity.  The pamphlets also give idea on how to make rain pits and how to do well recharging effectively. Special meetings would be arranged at Kudumbashree Balasabhas as well. 18,57,000 pamphlets have been circulated among NHGs and 1,43,000 pamphlets have been circulated among Balasabhas.  A total of 20 lakhs of pamphlets have been circulated altogether. 

As per the pamphlet, each NHG family would discuss and implement a water conservation activity of their own.They would note the number of water sources in the locality of their NHG. They would also note that out of the identified water sources, how many are usable and out of the non-usable, how many can be reinstated by the NHGs through chlorination and cleaning. They would also prepare a list of common water bodies near the NHG and would also give leadership to clean the water bodies with the help of the public and MGNREGS. After the analysis and study, the NHGs would handover the details of the cleaned water bodies to Harithakerala Mission and Kudumbashree Mission and get it published. They may also seek the help of Local Self Government Institutions (LSGIs), MGNREGS, Water Authority & Soil Conservation Department to clean the water bodies that NHGs could clean by themselves.They should also make interventions to dig ponds with the help of MGNREGS. The ADS and CDS would monitor the activities and the details collected will be compiled and be sent to Kudumbashree District Missions and Harithakerala Mission.

Pennorukkam Theatre Performance by Rangasree was held at Kochi Muziris Biennale Pavilion on 17 March 2019 . Pennorukkam  Theatre performance was staged by Kudumbashree's theater forum Rangashree. The theme of the play was Kerala's historical women's struggles and their achievements. The entire production has been scripted, designed and performed exclisively by Rangashree itself. Pennorukkam was performed as part of the Gender Self Learning Programme (GSLP). Selected 11 women artists hailing from Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts performed at Pennorukkam.

Pennorukkam was indeed a thought provoking performance which gave messages to the women fraternity to face and overcome any  atrocities against them. The concept of community theater had its origin during 2012. The same was launched joining women who were interested in performing arts. The community theater of each group is functioning under respective district mission offices. Foreigners from various countries and general public was present among the audience who watched the Pennorukkam performance.

Rangasree is a program to train selected women from Kudumbashree in Theatre with the aim of establishing community theaters in every CDS of the State. It also aims to disseminate the messages of social justice, equality, sustainable development etc. Women belonging to Neighborhood groups, who have talents got training and the aspire is to form local cultural organization. Gender Self Learning Programme could be regarded as the first social educational process that would have direct implications on rights and entitlements of women in grass roots. Unlike conventional women empowerment programmes that adhere to awareness classes, gender self learning programme aims at facilitating neighborhood groups on discussions that reflect on discrimination, violence and inequality. Each woman represented in the network is regarded as a participant, information provider and knowledge creator.

Kudumbashree opens RO Plant at Payyanur Municipality premises to make avail pure drinking water during scorching summer. The RO plant opened at Payyanur Municipality office premises is located near to Payyanur bus stand. A four member team of Kudumbashree women is entrusted with the charge of running the RO plant and supply the drinking water cans. The programme was officially launched on 7 March 2019. The bottled drinking water was named as ‘Sheethalam’. Kudumbashree had launched the idea of launching a Reverse Osmosis Plant to produce bottled drinking water, as part of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission Project being implemented in Kerala.  

Kudumbashree is implementing the project with the help of New Delhi based Dharna Infrastructure Private Limited. The public need to give a nominal charge of just Rs 30 for 20 litres of pure drinking water. The plant has the capacity to purify 500 litres of water per hour. The water is purified using reverse osmosis technology to treat the filtered water. The water will be then purified through ultraviolet treatment and the purity of the water is ensured. Rs. 12,75,000 is the total project cost out of which Rs 6 lakhs was the share of  Urban Local Body (ULB) and the rest of the project cost was funded through the loan availed by Kudumbashree members. 

Water Vending Machine, which would enable the consumer to avail 1 litre of water at a rate of Rs 1 would be open soon. It is also planned to extend the activities of the RO plant and to extend the same to the next phase. The demand for purified drinking water can be better converted into an enterprise opportunity and the Mission intends to open more such plants  across the state. 'Sheethalam’, purified drinking water, distributed to the people of Payyanur in reasonable prices during this time of water scarcity is really being a boon to many.

Kudumbashree Pathanamthitta District Mission is planning to introduce a mobile application for the better performance of DDU-GKY (Deendayal Upadyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana) registration and for widening the scope of the program. The design part  of the app is completed and will be active soon.

Job seekers can register in the DDUGKY skilling program through this application, in which they must enter the personal details and educational qualifications. This would help the district mission team to consolidate the details and the benefits will reach the right people with effect. Introduction of mobile application will take the DDUGKY program to comparatively more people and would help in the easy process of application. Mobile Application itself will work as  communication tool and with the links itself job seekers can reach the application and people can apply for the training.   All eligible beneficiaries can apply through the mobile application, which will reduce the block of information and reach the candidates smoothly will reduce the middle problems which keeps beneficiary in distance. The course details would  be made  available to them as per their qualifications and availability of course. The training company can accept the request with relation to their capacity. 

Social media coverage is another added advantage. The application with the link could be send to the public. This will also work as a less expense advertisement. The program will be known to public with the help of application.  The Application can be easily referred to the known people as their own. Simply they can send links to the people who need the support. Beneficiaries can apply at any time 24×7 freely. This will be useful for the public as they are not compelled to attend the mobilization meeting. And also the youth can choose the course as per their aspiration and qualification. This will make the program available to all the youth in rural area without any information transfer block. When the interested beneficiary register, notification will be send to the respective companies and the data will be saved with the district mission team. After the training and appointment of the candidate the company will send another notification to distract team. This process of communication will help the documentation process to be carried out effectively.  The app could also generate specific reports for the analysis and it will be helpful for the future planning and development.  Introduction of new application will reduces the drop out rate and can also increase the registration rate.

DDU-GKY, the skill training and placement programme under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) occupies a unique position amongst the other skill training programmes due to its focus to the poor rural youth and its emphasis on sustainable employment through the prominence and incentives given to post placement tracking, retention and career progression.