The Bala Parliament organised by Kudumbashree Mission sets a noteworthy model. Dr. K.T Jaleel, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala inaugurated the Bala Parliament held at Old Legislative Assembly Hall on 30 May 2018. Selected 131 students from 13 districts across the state except Kozhikode took part in the programme. Bala Parliament is being conducted by Kudumbashree Mission starting from 2007 to educate the children and to make them aware and understand the democratic process and its importance.

For the first time, an open forum was arranged to discuss with the selected representatives from the government departments, that the children face in the society. Smt. Prasanna Kumari, Deputy Director, Education Department, Shri. C Rajendran IFS, Forest Department (Deputy Conservator of Forest) Shri. G. Muraleedharan Nair, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Excise Department, Shri. C.J Antony, Acting Chairperson, Child Rights Commission and Dr. K. Sandeep, Deputy Director, Family Welfare Department interacted with the Children and answered the questions of the children.

Shri. Suresh Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Centre for Parliamentary Studies lead a class on 'Why Bala Parliament' at Loyola College on 29 May 2018. Students were divided into different groups and out of them 20 students were identified roles of President, Prime Minister, Speaker, Opposition Leader and Ministers of various departments. After the Bala Parliament, the Balasabha children also visited the New Legislative Assembly Complex.

Smt. G.S Amrida, Programme Officer, Social Development, Kudumbashree Mission welcomed the gathering and Dr. K.R Shaiju, Thiruvananthapuram District Mission Coordinator extended Vote of Thanks. The prime objective of constituting Balasabhas is to prevent inter-generational transmission of poverty through capability enhancement of children. Small Learning Groups for experimental and systematic learning, opportunities for understanding democratic process, participation in conserving environment, enabling children to unfold the intricacies of collectivisation are the basic focal points of Balasabha.

Honey jack, a venture from Kothamangalam producing value added products from Jack fruit is being a big hit. A group of 5 youth from Kothamangalam municipality of Ernakulam district started an enterprise with the value addition of Jack fruit and branded the same. Launched on 1 January 2018, the unit is producing different products made out of Jack fruit and branded the product as Honey Jack. They are producing jack fruit Jam, jack fruit chips, jack fruit puttu powder, jack fruit avalosunda, jack fruit coffee powder, jack fruit chutney, jack fruit murukku, dry jack, jack fruit pickle, jack fruit pulp, ripe jack fruit vacuum fried chips etc. The unit is also making jack fruit pulps, passion fruit pulps, jack fruit juice, passion fruit juice, guava juice, mango juice, water melon juice, pineapple juice and grape juice, lime ginger squash, birds eye chilly squash, gooseberry- birds eye chilly mixed squash and nutmeg candy as well.

The team include 5 members. Jithesh P Cherian is the Chairman of the unit. Jaison Chacko, Georgekutty Peter, Anoop Manoharan and Jismon Joseph are the other members of the unit. The team wanted to launch an enterprise that was unique and has viability under NULM project. When they came to know about the NULM project, they approached the City Mission Management Unit (CMMU) and discussed their idea on value addition of Jack fruit. As a result, they attended the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) & skill from accredited agencies and submitted project before the task force.

Initially,the banks didn’t sanction loan for the group and later Indian Overseas Bank sanctioned Rs.10 lakhs as loan. They availed a shop on rent and started the unit. The unit participated in different food fests and Kudumbashree exhibitions which resulted in developing the brand name and able to generate more orders from outside the Urban Local Body. The unit is having an average sales of Rs 2.5 lakhs to 3.5 lakhs a month. The unit is marketing their products in 3 districts and is planning to conduct Jack fruit fest in the Urban Local Body to sensitize the various products that can be produced using Jack fruit. The unit is one of new enterprise model of the Urban Local Body. Jackfruit was designated state fruit by Government of Kerala in 2018.

Transgenders, who were considered outcast by the society till recently, is now coming to the forefront with the confidence in themselves. Nicy Chips, a first of its kind Micro Enterprise unit was launched by a group of transgenders from Aanakulam of Kannur district. Nicy Chips is the venture of Nanma NHG group. They are manufacturing and selling 5 different types of chips from banana, potato and are selling in the market. A start up fund of Rs 1 lakh was handed over to the team by Adv. A.N. Shamseer, MLA recently.

In the initial stage, the team started selling through home shops and because of the quality of the products they prepare, Nicy Chips are of high demand in the market. Even a few supermarkets have shown interest to sell Nicy Chips in their shops. Nicy Chips are also undertaking bulk orders as well. An average of 2,000 kg of Chips are sold in a month, even though the business is mainly done focusing on trade fairs inside and outside Kerala. The response they received while take part in the Trade fairs at Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are adding more confidence to them. Sandhya is the president and Sona is the Secretary of the Micro Enterprise unit. Sneha, Maya, Saumini, Aparna, Jasmine, Reema Satheeshan, Sanana and Laisa are the other members of the unit. On getting motivated from the Nicy Chips Micro enterprise unit, many more transgender groups have shown interest in launching such ventures. The team is planning to expand their venture and redesign the packing to gave their product more attractive look.

Safari Driving School of Malappuram cannot be considered a mere driving school. It bears the saga of a woman who dare to make a difference through her life. Smt.Rejina from Malappuram and her team are engaged in providing training to women who wanted to learn driving or to get driving as a means of livelihood. The concept of Women drivers or driving teachers was not at all acceptable in a district like Malappuram. It was during such a period that Smt. Rejina came forward boldly to start her driving school. The women were usually reluctant to get into the field due to the existing social conditions. Smt. Rejina came into the sector boldly availing linkage loan from Kudumbashree Mission. Her efforts soon became successful with the highlight that its a woman who had been teaching driving to other women. This made her driving school ‘Safari driving school’ even more famous.

Smt. Rejina teaches women to ride two-wheeler and four-wheeler and helps them in getting the license and thereby she helped women to acquire driving skill at affordable cost. She conceived the idea from the awareness session of City Mission Management Unit of NULM to utilize the linkage loan for income generation activity alongside personal consumption. She is proud that she has been able to provide training to 128 women so far and is earning Rs. 40,000 per month and is having the confidence to repay the amount within three years. She is also able to avail interest subsidy. Smt. Rejina is one of the best examples of women entrepreneurship as she chose a sector where many women were afraid to attempt.

As part of Inclusion of the real needy, Kudumbashree Mission has initiated an exclusive batch of DDU-GKY skill training giving special focus for the Persons With Disabilities and other weaker sections, with the support of Project Implementing Agency, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi. It is planned to extend skill training for 150 beneficiaries during 2018-19.They are provided skill training in Book Binding, Front Office Associate and Housekeeping Attendant jobs. The first batch of the book binding course (4 months duration) was commenced on 10 May 2018. The training is being extended to 30 beneficiaries out of which 15 persons would be those who are facing mental disabilities. Kerala Rehabilitation Institute for the Physically Affected (KRIPA) is the training centre for extending skill training for them.

The book binding, front office associate courses would be carried out as 2 batches. 60 beneficiaries each would be extended training in these courses. Front office associate course is of 5 month duration and book binding, house keeping attendant course are of 4 months duration. 30 persons would be given training for house keeping attendant course. Educational qualification till eighth standard is the minimum qualification for book binding course whereas twelfth standard education is the minimum qualification for front office associate course. Training is also extended in communicative english, computer and soft skills as well.Those who successfully complete book binding courses would be given National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) certificates and job would be ensured for them in printing press and other such institutions and Sector Skills Councils (SSC) Certificate would be given to those who complete the front office assistant course.

Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, a non profit organisation engaged in empowering persons with disabilities and distress in socio-economic-cultural fronts through its various initiatives on Education, Livelihood, Environment, Health & Nutrition, Sports, Culture and Rehabilitation, which is headquartered in Bangalore has signed MoU with Kudumbashree for extending skill training to 400 beneficiaries. They would give training in BPO (voice) and BPO (Non Voice). Residential training would be extended at their centre located at Ernakulam. Beneficiaries from all the districts across the district may apply for the same.The courses would be started by last week of July.

Kudumbashree Mission had bagged the national award for the successful implementation of DDU-GKY programme in Kerala for the second time in a row. Kudumbashree is the nodal agency for implementing DDU-GKY Programme in Kerala. Through the programme, skill training had been extended to 34568 candidates out of which 20564 received job placements so far.

Kudumbashree women from Pallipad, Karthikapally and Cheruthana Panchayaths of Alappuzha district are busy creating history by constructing the house of Life Mission in Pallipad Panchayath.  The construction is progressing in a fast pace. A beneficiary from Pallipad CDS earlier and a group of 32 women were given training with the help of Eksath training centre.

Kudumbashree Mission clubbed the construction for Life Mission and the construction training for the women together to reduce the cost of construction. The building blocks are availed from MGNREGA as free of cost. An amount of Rs 4 lakh is estimated cost of the house which would be released to the beneficiary in 4 stages. As the training and the construction of the house is clubbed, the labour cost for the same could be reduced. This is the first construction work took up by the Kudumbashree Women. 4 masons gave leadership for the construction training. Motivational training was also extended to them. Training was also given in brick making and ferroslabs making as well.

It is planned to build the Life Mission houses in each block in the same model. The construction of the house at Pallipad would be completed by next month. It is also planned to extend the same model to another panchayaths as well.  Thamarakkulam Panchayath is the next identified Panchayath in which the construction model would be replicated.