Shri. Mohammed Yunus,  the Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist, and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of micro credit and micro finance interacted with the staff of Kudumbashree Mission at a programme held at Secretariat on 26 June 2018.

He had a detailed conversation with the Kudumbashree Misson staff on social business. He described in detail about the evolution of Grameen bank and how he turned the unemployed youth into successful entrepreneurs through micro credit and micro finance. He said that the real solution is to let young people express their creative capacity. Nowadays the Business Schools are training  their scholars to achieve interest only; it should be changed and they should be trained in a balanced system which consists of social entrepreneurship as well as profit motive. Organisations like Kudumbashree Mission have relevance in this scenario.Then only we can completely eradicate unemployment. We had created more job creators than job seekers. Muhammad Yunus said.

The selfishness and selflessness of the younger generation should be abolished. In today's world bankers are always working for rich people. Micro credits entered into the scenario like a 'Bonsai' which have all the features of a giant tree. He added. He also described the relevance of communicating equality, social responsibility and social entrepreneurship  among the society. He also appreciated the Micro Enterprises Programme and Animal Birth Control Programme of Kudumbashree Mission.

Shri. T. K. Jose IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Local Self Government Department,Government of Kerala welcomed and introduced the Nobel Laureate to the gathering. Shri. Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission, Shri Binu Francis, Shri. Dathan C.S, Smt. Niranjana N.S, Shri. Nikesh Kiran, Shri. Pramod K.V, Smt. Amrida G.S (Programme Officers) Smt. Jayanthi Narendran, Public Relations Officer Shri. Ajith Chacko, Chief Operating Officer , NRLM, Dr Praveen C.S, Chief Operating Officer, DDUGKY also attended the programme

From now onwards wives of Migrant Labourers will also become the part of Kudumbashree Mission. The first of its kind Neighbourhood  Group, exclusively for the wives of migrant labourers was launched at Edayar, an industrial area in Kochi. The NHG came into being during  March 2018 when Kudumbashree’s Kadungalloor Community Development Society (CDS) registered the NHG as Mahalakshmi NHG. The group consists of 16 house wives who hails from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They had undergone a 32 day stitching training under Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission and  would soon set up two stitching units. The units would be registered as startup micro enterprises named Bismillah and Lakshmi.

The NHG came into being as a means to draw the children of migrant labourers in the region to the Government High School, Binanipuram, where the District Administration of Ernakulam piloted a project named Roshni, to bypass the language barrier to educate these children. As it was found to be good to train their mothers in stitching, which could then be turned into a livelihood opportunity, a training programme was organised for them, even though language was a main barrier in training the women. 

The group of 16 received their certificates in basic tailoring on 20 June 2018. Smt. Abida Khatum, hailing from Bihar is the President of the NHG and Bismillah startup unit. Most of them were doing household chores till then. They are looking forward to support their families better and also plans to attract more housewives to join the group. Kudumbashree District Mission of Ernakulam is confident of empowering them and making positive strides in inclusiveness.

By issuing Identity cards Kerala became the first state in the country to ensure the proper inclusion of street vendors in the society. For rehabilitating the street vendors in a proper and effective way new programmes are to be implemented. And as a part of this it was decided to extend skill training to selected 1000 street food vendors. The training programme is being conducted as part of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). It has been designed to provide RPL training to 1000 street vendors this year.During the first phase 200 street vendors from 10 Urban local Bodies would be trained.

The training of the first batch was started at Kottayam District on 20 June 2018. Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), the pioneer institute for tourism and hospitality in Kerala would extend 12 hour training to street vendors in Urban Local Bodies of the state under National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) Scheme. In the proposed training programme the participants will be exposed to the aspects such as food safety & hygiene, procurement of quality raw material, food contamination (physical, chemical and microbial), high risk foods, cross contamination, importance of safe food, quality of water/ice to be used, cleaning sanitation of utensils, effective waste/garbage disposal, table manners and etiquette, customer relation practices and basics of food safety laws.

On successful completion of the training, Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) will issue certificate to the participants. A hand book would also be issued for quick reference along with participation certificate. Prevent outbreaks of food/water-borne diseases from street food vending units, reduce the chances of spoilage of food, ensure quality of street food and health of the customers, effective waste management system for food vending units, understand basic table etiquette, customer handling techniques and enhance business potential of street food vending units, create basic understanding about the food safety laws, rules and regulations among street food vendors, brand the street food vendors in Kerala under a single brand- Kudumbashree etc are the proposed benefits of the training programme.

A large number of street food outlets are functioning across 93 urban pockets in the state. Local flavors are being served at such roadside outlets at cheapest prices. Food borne illnesses of microbial origin are major health problem associated with such street foods and its major causes are lack of proper knowledge in safe food handling, lack of clean environment, sanitation and hygiene, mode of food display, food service, hand washing, sources of raw materials, and use of potable water. If adequate measures are followed it can be prevented. It is highly imperative to give basic exposure to street food vendors about food safety & hygiene, effective waste disposal, table manners & etiquette, customer relation practices and laws, rules & regulations for food safety. It was on the realization of the prevailing situation that the training was planned.

DDU-GKY candidate from Idukki district received the highest salary ever in the placement history of DDU-GKY Kerala. It is Shri. Akhil Babu, 4th batch candidate of ITES trade at Idukki Centre who made this hilarious achievement. Hailing from Kannur, with the qualification of Plus Two, Akhil joined the Idukki Centre of DDU-GKY. Quess Corp was the Project Implementing Agency in which he attended the training. After the successful completion of the course, he joined Eureka Forbes Limited, Kottayam as customer sales specialist (vacuum cleaner) with basic salary of Rs. 8,000/- during November 2017. While he joined, he had to face high competitions from the antagonists. With his sheer confidence in himself and hard working he overcame them and made a milestone in his career life by receiving an additional incentive of Rs. 1,08,757/-. He sold more than 140 products so he got selected as a silver club member in the company. Now he is confident to move forward to achieve the goals. He is grateful towards DDU-GKY for placing him in such a position in which he could excel his best.

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. Kudumbashree SRLM is planning to give skill training to 30,000 rural youth during 2018-2019.

Adding the third canteen on to the list, Kudumbashree Kannur District Mission have been now running three canteens at various campuses of Kannur University. A new Kudumbashree Canteen unit was opened at Mangattuparamb Campus of Kannur University recently. Smt. E.P Omana, President, Kalliasseri Grama Panchayath inaugurated the canteen unit on 18 June 2018.

One canteen had been working in the main campus of Kannur University at Thavakkara from February 2018 and later from May 2018 onwards yet another canteen started working at the Thalassery Campus at Palayad.

Kudumbashree Cafeshree is providing healthy meals and have completely avoided artificial colours and other artificial taste makers. Meals, tea and snacks are made available at the canteen at reasonable rates. Only trained members are working in these canteen units. So far more than 30 enterprises in catering-hotel sectors has been working under Kudumbashree. To make avail the students and public, non adulterated food is the main aim of the canteen units. It also aims at developing a healthy food culture among the students and public thereby inspiring them to live in touch with the nature.

Marking the first anniversary celebrations of its commercial operations, Kochi Metro, the first metro system in the country with an integrated multi modal transport system felicitated the 'super women' of Kudumbashree who had been employed in the Facility Management Department of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL). Kudumbashree women were honored at the programme held at Edapally Metro Station, Kochi on 17 June 2018. Kudumbashree have been providing a vast array of services from customer relations, crowd management, housekeeping and catering services and became the largest crew of women to be employed by any metro. KMRL, along with Kudumbashree, had included persons from Transgender community in its operations, and thus became the first organization to appoint transgender persons as per the transgender policy of the Kerala Government.

The unique aspect of Kochi Metro itself is the deployment of the members of Kudumbashree, the women empowerment-oriented, community based self help groups for managing the operations at the metro stations. Kudumbashree women had risen above all the perceptions and excelled by their performance and hence elevated themselves into a world class work force. As per the agreement between Kudumbashree and Kochi Metro, all the services ranging from parking management to customer facilitation, from ticketing to housekeeping are entrusted with Kudumbashree. The ‘women metro team’ were selected through a rigorous process. More than 40,000 candidates appeared for the written exam, and the selected ones were called for a personal interview and out of them the women team were chosen. Kudumbashree members or their families were allowed to apply for the same.

Kudumbashree made its first major foray into the facility management market by establishing its own Facility Management Centre targeting at providing facility management services to major public and private sector companies. Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) became its first client. Later it has added Vyttila Mobility, Kerala's largest bus station to the client list. Facility Management Centre has put in place a performance appraisal system in which the employee performance is measured and analysed based on the clients feedback and requirements. It also has mentoring and personal coaching program for employees to improve performance. A proper 'Rewards and Recognition' program was also implemented to keep the best performers motivated and committed to the work. To keep the staff updated with the new trends in the facility management markets, the service of the internal training team is also used to continuously train the staff. The staff are also trained on soft skills and business etiquette to exhibit behavioral discipline on the floor. It also has put in place all the legal and mandatory compliance like Minimum wages Act, ESI and PF provisions etc and also has a valid GST registration. Kudumbashree Facility Management Center has today become of an epicenter for providing employment for women by so providing thousands of women employed with its clients.

Kudumbashree invitied entries for the Photography competition and logo designing competition in connection with the Animal Birth Control programme of Kudumbashree Mission. ' Stray Dog Issue' is the theme for Photography Competition. Those who are interested may take part in the competition by  sending their photographs. The entries should be sent on or before 5 July 2018. An applicant can send only one photograph. Photos should be in jpeg format and should be send to abcphotospem@gmail.com

Logos are to be designed for the Suraksha Campaign 2018 campaign, which is being conducted in the state to make the people aware of the Animal Birth Control activities of Kudumbashree.

An applicant can send upto 3 entries. The entries should be of 300 dpi resolution  and 3"x3" size. 5 July 2018 is the last date for receiving logos.The entries should be jpeg format and should be send to abclogospem@gmail.com

Name, address, email id, passport size photo of the applicant, mobile number etc should be attached  alongwith. Rs 10,000 and memento and Rs 5,000  and memento would be given for those who come in first and second places respectively in each competitions.

Entries called for Photography Competition in connection with Animal Birth Control Programme

During this Onam season, a Mall for women by women would be opened in the State. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall, the exclusive mall for women would be launched by Kudumbashree Mission of Kozhikode soon. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall is the  project by the Kozhikode Corporation Kudumbashree, in association with the Kozhikode District Kudumbashree Mission. The mall located at the heart of the city on Wayanad Road would be launched during August 2018. 

The Mall is the initiative of 10 women of unity group under Corporation Kudumbashree CDS. Kudumbashree Mahila Mall would be an opportunity for the women entrepreneurs of Kudumbashree to market their products. With five floors spread over 36,000 sq ft in 54 cent plot, the project would have 60 shops which would give jobs directly and indirectly to at least 300 women. Preference would be given to Kudumbashree workers and space for women’s societies and private ventures. Women would take care of the mall management and the administration. All the staff  of the mall shall be women. The mall will house all kinds of enterprises such as supermarket, food court, kids park, spa, beauty parlour, women’s bank, fancy stores, textiles and readymades, boutiques, footwear, dry cleaning, car washing, opticals, handicrafts, baby care, home appliances and book stall. Besides, there will be conference rooms, training centres and underground car parking facility. A Food  court  would be set up at the roof top which would cater ethnic food items. 

Smt. K Beena, former CDS President, Smt. K. Vijaya, President, Technoworld, and Shri. M.V Ramzi Ismail, Project officer, Corporation Kudumbashree would be the President, Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Mall. The booking for the shops at the mall is progressing. In addition to the trade fairs and temporary markets,there was the need for a more permanent arrangement so everyone would get a market. Mahila Mall would be launched as a solution to that. Through Mahila Mall, Kudumbashree is about to give all Kudumbashree women under one roof.