For motivating the aspiring photographers and to propagate the activities of Kudumbashree Mission through photographs, Kudumbashree Mission launched the Season 4 of ‘Kudumbashree or Nerchithram’ Photography Competition on 22 July 2021. The contestants may submit photographs that would reflect the priority projects of Kudumbashree Mission. The photographs should reflect the activities of Kudumbashree such as, Kudumbashree Neighbourhood Group meetings, various enterprises run by Kudumbashree women including Kudumbashree canteens and cafes, the farming activities of Kudumbasree women, the parking management of Kudumbashree women at railway stations and various other spots, the waiting halls managed by Kudumbashree entrepreneurs, housekeeping services and the activities of the BUDS institutions etc.

The entries should reach Kudumbashree Mission office on or before 5 PM, 31 August 2021. The jury, composed of renowned photographers and officials of Kudumbashree Mission will select the winner. The Award for the Best Photographer will be Rs 25,000. The second prize and third prize will be Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Rs 2000 each will be issued for 10 entries as consolation prizes.

Entries may be sent to the mail id, kudumbashreeprcontest@gmail.com or may be sent in CD Format to the address, The Executive Director, Kudumbashree State Mission Office, Trida Building, Medical college P.O, Thiruvananthapuram-695011. The name, address, mail id and contact number should be mentioned along with. A short note on the photograph should be attached along with. The photographs should not contain any watermarks. More details of the notification is available in the link : www.kudumbashree.org/photography2021.

The first season of ‘Kudumbashree or Nerchithram’ was conducted during November- December 2017, the second season during February -March 2019 and the third season was held during January- February 2020. The three seasons of 'Kudumbashree Oru Nerchithram' Photography Competition resulted in a huge success. 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. Kudumbashree Mission which envisions eradicating poverty through women in Kerala had successfully completed 23 revolutionary years.

Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission organised Covid Special Karkkidaka Kanji Fest. The Fest was inaugurated by Shri. M.V Govindan Master, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at the District Panchayath Canteen, Vidyanagar, Kasaragod on 20 July 2021. Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission would organise Special Karkkidaka Kanji Fest at all the 40 Janakeeya Hotels in the district till 16 August 2021. The Karkkidaka Kanji is prepared using medicinal plants and organic rice in the traditional way of ayurveda.Four types of Kanji are served along with leafy curries and gooseberry chutney. Rs 50 is charged for the same. Take Away Counters would be set up at all Janakeeya Hotels. 

Smt. Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand IAS, District Collector, Kasaragod, Smt. Baby Balakrishnan, President, District Panchayath, Kasaragod, Shri. Shanavas Padoor, Vice President, District Panchayath, Kasaragod, Shri. T.T Surendran, District Mission Coordinator, Kudumbashree Kasaragod District Mission and other officials also attended the function.

Ms. P.I Sreevidya IAS took over the charge as the new Executive Director of Kudumbashree. Ms. Asha Varghese welcomed the newly assigned Executive Director, who reached the Kudumbashree State Mission Office at Thiruvananthapuram. Mr. S. Harikishore IAS, handed over the charge of the Executive Director to Ms. P.I Sreevidya. Ms. P.I Sreevidya is a Karnataka cadre  IAS Officer and was working as the Director of Scheduled Caste Development Department.

'Kerala Chicken', the project conceptualized by the Government of Kerala to ensure the market of good quality chicken at affordable rates all across the state, is achieving greater progress with 47 Marketing Outlets. On 14 June 2021, the latest marketing outlet was started at Venjaramoodu of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala and with this, the total number of Kerala Chicken outlets has become 47. The total number of farms in the state is 203.  

In the first phase of Kerala Chicken Project, it was conceived in such a way that the farms are started and the broiler chicken from the farms is brought directly to the market. This was how the project was conceptualized and implemented.
Following that, from June 2020 onwards, Kudumbashree had started taking actions to sell broiler chicken to the public in 'Kerala Chicken' brand through specially branded marketing outlets of Kerala Chicken. The first marketing outlet in the state was started at Ernakulam district under Ezhikkara CDS. There are 48 farms and 21 marketing outlets in Ernakulam, whereas there are 37 farms and 11 marketing outlets in Thrissur. The total number of farms in Kottayam is 30 and the number of marketing outlets is 9. Thiruvananthapuram has 31 farms and 3 marketing outlets, whereas Kollam has 26 farms and 3 marketing outlets. There are 31 farms in Kozhikode. 

The project of taking the full-grown broiler chicken directly to the marketing outlets is being implemented in three phases. In the first phase, the aim was to start 40 farms each in 7 districts (Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad) and open 20 marketing outlets each to take the broiler chicken from those farms. In the second phase these activities would be extended to 3 more districts viz. Malappuram, Kannur and Alappuzha districts. It is planned to implement the third phase of the project in the remaining districts during this financial year itself.

The 'Kerala Chicken' Project is jointly being implemented by Kudumbashree, Animal Husbandry Department and Brahmagiri Development Society. This project is supervised by the Animal Husbandry Department. Kudumbashree had taken the lead in taking the broiler chicken to the market through integration farming. Also, a processing unit will be started as a part of this comprehensive project. It is expected that Kudumbashree would be able to start more 'Kerala Chicken' farms and marketing outlets by the end of this financial year itself and secure a notable space in the market.

Kudumbashree has received an opportunity to function as the Implementing Support Agency of Jal Jeevan Mission being implemented by the Water Resource Department of Kerala. This opportunity is received in some panchayats of Kerala. There are Project Implementing Agencies in all LSGIs of Kerala to implement the projects of Jal Jeevan Mission. Kudumbashree has been selected as the Implementing Support Agency in 262 panchayats. Some livelihood opportunities were provided to Kudumbashree members as part of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission. 

The aim of the Implementing Support Agency is to support the Project Implementing Agencies who implement the projects as part of the Jal Jeevan Mission The opportunity to function as the Implementing Support Agency of Jal Jeevan Mission was available for NGOs and Government Missions. On knowing about this, Kudumbashree decided to take up these activities through Kudumbashree and took part in the tender process. Based on the request, Kudumbashree got the opportunity to function as Implementing Support Agency in 262 panchayats. In the other panchayats, selected NGOs function as the implementation support agency. Kudumbashree Mission is making greater efforts to showcase the best of their performances, where they received the opportunities.

The Jal Jeevan Mission has demanded to do the activities of Implementing Support Agencies in two ways. The activities should be implemented by deploying 5 persons where the project should be completed within 7 months. Whereas, at the Panchayats, where the project should be completed within 18 months, 3 persons will get the livelihood opportunity as part of the agency work. It is the responsibility of the Implementing Support Agency to complete the aims/ goals of the Jal Jeevan Mission, to oversee the project implementation and solve if there are any issues. Implementing Support Agency will smoothen the project implementation and support the Panchayath and the Project Implementation Agencies.

In a Panchayath, the Implementing Support Agency would get Rs 8.30 lakhs for the activities for 7 months. The Implementing Support Agency will get Rs 17.26 lakhs for the activities for 18 months. Kudumbashree CDSs would be entrusted with the task of overseeing the Kudumbashree ISA team at the Panchayats, where Kudumbashree got the opportunity to function as Implementing Support Agency. Through this association, Kudumbashree would be able to give a livelihood opportunity to more than 750 people across the state through this opportunity to function as the Implementing Support Agency.

The details of the Panchayats, where Kudumbashree got the opportunity to function as the Implementing Support Agency of Jal Jeevan Mission is available in this link : https://www.kudumbashree.org/pages/895. It was unable to start the activities during the crisis of covid. Directions had already been given to start the activities by selecting those who are interested to become part of the team. Once lockdown relaxations are announced, activities will be started.

The Home Shop Project of Kudumbashree is progressing well with good growth. Home Shop network takes the products of Kudumbashree micro entrepreneurs directly to the households. The activities of ‘Home Shop’ ie being extended to all the districts and now Home Shop’ network is functioning in 13 out of the 14 districts in Kerala. Though delivering products to the households was interrupted during the lockdown due to covid-19 pandemic, the Home Shop system is securing significant growth. Sales of Rs 91.58 lakhs were secured through Home Shop during January 2021. Rs 1.09 crores was recorded during February and Rs 90.27 lakhs was secured during March. Sales of Rs 75.19 lakhs were recorded during the month of April. The lock down notified due to the second wave of covid-19 pandemic came into being during the month of May and sales of Rs 21.45 lakhs was recorded through the ‘Home Shop’ system, during May. 

The operations and logistic management of the ‘Home Shop’ system is managed by a management team. Products are collected from the entrepreneurs under the leadership of this team. Products are stored and are taken to the households through ‘Home Shop owners’. This is the model followed by Kudumbashree for the management of the ‘Home Shop’ system all across the state. There would be one or more Home Shop Management teams in a district. There would be many ‘Home Shop Owners’ under every ‘Home Shop Management team’. This project is framed in such a way that marketing is ensured for the products of Kudumbashree entrepreneurs through the network of Home Shop owners. Along with ensuring sales, a good income is also ensured for ‘Home Shop owners’ who are the service providers in the marketing sector.

As of now, there are 19 ‘Home Shop Management teams’ altogether functioning across the state. System is established in all districts except at Malappuram. There are 2 ‘Home Shop Management units’ each in Kasaragod, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts.  Whereas, one unit each is there in Kozhikode, Kannur, Kollam, Wayanad, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Thrissur. 1861 ‘Home Shop owners’ are functioning under these managements. Out of which, Kozhikode district which has 602 ‘Home Shop owners’ is showcasing the best performance. 749 products of 320 Kudumbashree enterprises are now part of the ‘Home Shop Marketing System’ across the state. We have conceived this project in such a way that the income of the ‘Home Shop Owners’ would be increased by making maximum Kudumbashree entrepreneurs of all districts be part of this Home Shop system by this year itself.  

It is expected that the Home Shop system would turn into a strong system in the marketing sector of Kudumbashree by the end of this year. Kudumbashree's efforts to market Kudumbashree products are mainly through four channels. Kudumbashree organises trade fairs, setting up permanent marketing outlets and arranges marketing opportunities through an e-commerce platform to take the products of Kudumbashree micro entrepreneurs to maximum reach.