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Pink Ladder, the women-only construction unit of Kozhikode Corporation completed the construction of the first two houses. Shri. A. K Saseendran, Minister for Transport, Government of Kerala handed over the key of the first house constructed by Pink Ladder on 6 January 2019. Smt. Nandini, a destitute woman from Karuvasseri, Kozhikode is the beneficiary of the project. Smt. Nandini’s house is the first house constructed by women in the State’s urban belt.

The Pink Ladder has constructed the houses under the PMAY(Prathan Mantri Awas Yojana) Scheme at a cost of Rs 4 lakh each.The women construction group completed the construction of the house in 53 days. The construction group members were trained by the Eksat Training Institute and they completed the construction within 53 days. The houses are also fitted with solar panels under sponsorship.

The Pink Ladder was founded on 1 November 2018. The foundation for the two houses were laid on the same day itself. Both houses are 400 square feet in size, with a bedroom, hall, kitchen, and an attached bathroom. The two Pink Ladder units have 15 members each. The Pink Ladder team is now gearing up to take up more projects

As part of supporting women for self-employment and women empowerment, the NULM City Mission Management Unit took the initiative of forming women construction unit in Kunnamkulam. The NULM City Mission Management Unit conducted a mobilization campaign for Kudumbashree members and formed a Construction unit which consisted 10 members. Training for the construction team was commenced during October 2018 and the training was imparted by Thrissur District Labour Contract Co- Operative Society, an accredited construction agency.

The construction unit had acquired the skill training for various trades in the construction industry like stone bonding, tile works, plumbing, electrical works, well construction, bathroom construction, arch construction, brick level testing, side wall construction, compound wall construction, mason works, painting etc. A loan amount of Rs. 2 lakhs has been sanctioned from the Kerala Gramin Bank, Kunnamkulam branch. During October 2018 itself, the unit started the construction of a PMAY house. Smt.Kani Thulasi is the beneficiary of the house. The construction of the house is carried out under the supervision of Thrissur District Labour Contract Co- Operative Society. The team have the confidence that they can complete work and that they will be able to handover the key soon

The Balagothra Sabha Kalolsavam-Aatam 2018, organised by the Attappady Comprehensive Tribal Development and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Development Project, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Attappady attracted many.  A total of 2000 students from 136 Balagothra Sabhas became part of the three day Balagothra Sabha Kalolsavam held at Attappady.

Competitions were conducted in 70 various items  including tribal dance, drama, elocution in tribal language etc. The youth festival was organised giving prominence to such art forms which were denied in other youth festival. The youth festival was inaugurated by Smt. Leela Santhosh, upcoming movie director from the tribal category. Kallakkara tribal hamlet became the overall champions of Aatam 2018. Pottikkal hamlet and Varagampaadi hamlet came in the second and third place respectively. Gajendran Kulkur won the 'Kalaprathibha' title and Vishnu Priya and Deepa won the 'Kalathilakam' title. The youth festival was indeed a new experience for children as well as the audience.

Nataraja Kalasamithi is Kudumbashree's first transgender dance group formed under Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission during November 2018. The Nataraja Kalasamithi was formed by 5 transgenders from Ernakulam district of Kerala. The members of the group include Amrutha, Saya, Faizal Faizu, Mereena and Shalu. Amrutha and Mereena are the President and Secretary of the group.

Almost all the members of the group are trans-women.They were living in Ernakulam for the past five years and had tried so many ways to get some job but nobody responded and finally they went to the Kudumbashree office seeking help. And later they joined Kudumbashree and formed a transgender NHG group named Lakshya. The NHG meets every sunday evening and have started accumulating their thrift. On consulting with Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission they realized that there is a project for them named Prathyasha which provide assistance to start a business.

When they seriously thought of a livelihood initiatives, they put forward the proposal to start a dance troop. Recognizing their talent, district mission also agreed to support them in this venture. The District Mission provided financial support to procure the stage properties. They consulted Ernakulam District Mission co-coordinator and ensured that they will get as many chances for performance. Now they are performing cinematic dance, epic dance dramas and bale. There are another 12 transgender artists cooperating with the troop as per need. Now they are getting more and more stages after each performance. Besides the stages, they perform various art forms in processions of temples, churches and other organisations. They are also getting opportunities to perform for commercial advertisements as well. They also became part of Rangashree, the community theater group of Kudumbashree Mission working to explore the ideas of Kudumbashree towards the community which allocate the members towards the different programs of LSGDs in the district. The team members of Nataraja Kalasamithi is thankful to Kudumbashree Mission for helping them achieve their goals.

Kudumbashree Mission had successfully conducted a training course on the ‘Basic methods in Community Education and Counselling for Community Counsellors of Kudumbashree’ in collaboration with Department of Psychology, University of Kerala from 3-7 December 2018. The valedictory function of the training was inaugurated and certificate distribution was done by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister for Local Self Governments, Government of Kerala on 7 December 2018. The programme was inaugurated by Smt. T.N Seema, Chairperson, Harithakerala Mission and Kudumbashree Governing Body Member on 3 December 2018. Kudumbashree Mr. S Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission interacted with the participants regarding the activities and future plans after the inaugural function. The training was conducted at Kariyavattom Campus, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. 350 counsellors from all the 14 districts across Kerala participated in the programme.

Detail sessions were conducted by eminent academicians and practitioners in eight parallel sessions. The training included wide topics such as counselling skills, yoga, positive thinking, happiness, personal development, premarital counselling, identification of behavioral problems, mental health issues, ethics to be followed, referrals to mental health services etc. Assessment examinations were conducted everyday in all the classrooms. Dr. Tissy Mariam Thomas, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology was the training coordinator of the programme.

There are 350 community Counsellors in the Kudumbashree network to give support and guidance to the community. They are the trained persons selected from among the Kudumbashree members. Community counsellors are involved with gender self learning activities by providing psycho social support, case study and analysis, crisis management, home visit etc. They mostly deal with cases related to gender based violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse, harassment, human trafficking, educational issues of children and referral services. They conduct awareness programmes and deal cases registered in the Gender Resource Centers and counseling centers of Kudumbashree Mission. Over these years, community counselors in the state dealt with a wide variety of cases and given them adequate support needed. The training programme enabled the community counsellors to identify and intervene in the wide variety of programmes they deal with.

Kudumbashree opened Cafe Kudmbashree Stalls at Kochi Muziris Biennale. The cafe is opened at Cabral Yard, the main venue of the event. It is as per the MoU signed between Kudumbashree Mission and Muziris Biennale Foundation that the Cafe Kudumbashree stalls are installed. Mainly there are two stalls set up at the venue. One is for tea, coffee and snacks and the other is for meals and juices. The Cafe Kudumbashree stalls would are opened by 10 AM everyday.

Varieties of juices are being served through the stalls. Beet berry, cool berry, honey berry, diabetic berry, gooseberry, sweet berry, green berry etc are the other special juices being served through Cafe Kudumbashree stalls. The diabetic berry is made of honey, beetroot and mint. Avil Shake, Milk Sharbath are also available at the stalls. Meals along with fish curry is served at a rate of Rs 50 and ghee rice with chicken curry is served for Rs 120. Different varieties of puttu (steam cake ) made of rice, wheat, oats, corn, tapioca and ragi etc are also available at the stalls. ‘Mutta kilikkoodu’, ‘vaazhakoombu cutlet’ and ‘pazham niravu’ are some of the unique attractions being served at the Cafe Kudumbashree stalls.

During every 20 days, the Cafe Kudumbashree members undergo rotation and the new batch of cafe Kudumbashree members would join and by the end of the event, cafe Kudumbashree members from all districts across Kerala would get an opportunity to be the part of the programme. Around 12- 15 Cafe Kudumbashree members work at a Cafe Kudumbashree stall. The Cafe Kudumbashree members are drawing more food and art lovers to the stalls. They are also expecting more footfalls in the upcoming days.