by Santosh Digal

“Kudumbashree” is the name of a programme launched in 1999. It involves 80,000 groups of women in rural and urban areas living below the poverty line, who become agents of change. “Poor women can play a pivotal role in this anti-poverty initiative,” Sr Mercy Varghese, who teaches at the St Xavier College in Aluva, told AsiaNews.

Aluva, Kerala (AsiaNews) – More than three million poor women in the southern state of Kerala are working to improve their socio-economic conditions and eradicate poverty, said Sr Mercy Varghese, associate professor in Commerce, St. Xavier’s College of women, Aluva. Speaking to AsiaNews, she noted that in doing so, women are asserting their dignity and reinforcing their self-image.

In the past 12 years, women have participated in a programme called Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission, which was launched in 1999. It is based on a holistic and innovative approach that focuses on direct participation by women to reduce poverty. The goal is to eradicate poverty in the state over the next ten years.

Kudumbashree offers poor families a go at prosperity by helping them enhance their confidence and opportunities for better social security and empower them physically, politically and socially. “Poor women can play a pivotal role in this anti-poverty initiative,” Sr Varghese said.” In doing so, they have become agents of social change in the state.

Kudumbashree neighbourhood groups (NHGs) are informal groups of rural and urban poor women. Under the programme, groups of about 15 to 40 members living the below poverty line are formed. At present, some 80,000 exist. They set up community development societies that loan capital and enable the poor to become credit-worthy for banks.

This way, women have accumulated savings of more than 11 billion rupees, with 32 billion rupees in loans to women. Altogether, more than 35,000 families have benefitted from the initiative.

The programme includes regular courses on self-esteem, community development, anti-poverty programmes, credit accounting, gender issues, empowerment, conflict management, entrepreneurship development, marketing strategies, communication and public relations.

NHGs organise health care volunteers to provide medical care for the poor, and encourage poor parents to send their children to school.

Under the Kudumbashree scheme, micro enterprise development provides NHG women with opportunities for gainful employment thus increasing their income and improving their standards of living. It also ensures that the government anti-poverty programmes reach those who live in utter distress and despair, Sr Varghese said.

“Kudumbashree NHGs are platforms where women find time and space of their own and begin to re-examine their lives critically and collectively. They enable women to look at old problems in new ways, analyse their environment and situation, recognise their strength and potential, improve their self-image, access new kinds of information and knowledge, acquire new skills and engage in initiative action aimed at gaining greater control over resources of various kind. The programme also involves creating an environment in which women can use these competencies to address the fundamental problems of society on par with their male counterparts,” the college professor said.

• india
• kerala
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• kudumbashree