In an interview with Anuradha Kalhan, Neelakandapillai tells us how Kudumbashree has been Kerala’s highly effective poverty eradication mission.
In what capacity and for how long have you been associated with Kerala’s Poverty Eradication Mission Kudumbashree (KS)?
I have been involved with Kudumbashree mission since 1998 in various capacities and was its Programme Officer from December 2006 – January 2014. I continue to be its resource person.
It is said that every second household in Kerala has a KS member and everyone recognises its name. Can you tell us about your journey thus far?
The literacy campaign of Kudumbashree between 1989 – 90 and the People‘s Plan Campaign (PPC) in 1996 created the environment for mass mobilisation for development activities, especially on voluntary basis. The CBO mobilisation culture promoted by the vast mass of voluntary resource persons for these campaigns paved the way for the Kudumbashree project. For being a member of Kudumbashree, a non – economic poverty index was decided by the community itself. This was evolved in the context of the urban basic services for the poor project with UNICEF support in Alappuzha in 1993, followed up by a community-based nutrition programme project in the district of Malappuram in 1996. The nine point poverty index-based strategy and the involvement of the local elected representatives brought in many more families into the network. A cascading approach of training was followed for the mass campaigning for all these programmes, which led to wider mobilisation of the communities. A large pool of resource persons were placed at the state, district and local levels to ensure participation of the communities. In 2007, Kudumbashree began replacing the resource pool from the PPC with women members from the community network and undertaking massive training programmes through community-based training groups, which were brought in as part of various campaigns, for information dissemination as well as for programme execution. These included understanding the Kudumbashree by-law, training on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme, campaign for understanding micro finance, sustainable agriculture and food security, total social inclusion etc. The large scale intensive trainings ensured that the community leadership was thoroughly engaged and the knowledge about the programme seeped through the entire network. It also ensured that a large array of informed and conscientious leadership of poor women was being constantly created and challenged to enhance their world view.
What are the other new initiatives by KS?
The Gender Self Learning Programme (GSLP) is one of the new communitybased initiatives of Kudumbashree. The unequal power relation within a family and in the society is one of the major dimensions of poverty. A survey done in 2006 showed that only 40 percent of the Kudumbashree women engage in any activity other than thrift and credit. Domestic responsibilities and lack of opportunities to speak out made most of them stay quiet. This was affecting the sustainability of the project. GLSP was launched with the vision that women who face discrimination have the experience and hence the right to speak up for themselves. They should be given the opportunity to self–evaluate the discriminations, identify the reasons and share it in the larger space. The first theme taken up was Women and Work as most women were associated with MGNREGS and it was a good starting point to begin talking about their rights and entitlements. This was followed by Women and Health. The third on Women and Mobility would be introduced soon. The Sthree Shakthi Portal, another new initiative, is an online forum for Kudumbashree women where they can freely interact and discuss any issue concerning them with other Kudumbashree women. Centre for Development Studies (CDSs) all over Kerala (more than 80 percent of them have been covered) have been provided with computers, and skills have been imparted to a certain number of women in every CDS to involve with the portal. Snehitha Gender Help Desks and Short Stay Homes are also new initiatives of the Kudumbashree Mission. At the Gender Help Desk, a woman can approach and seek help for a variety of things including physical/mental support, legal support, information regarding agriculture or work related activities etc. In every CDS, provisions have been made for a gender corner that would essentially look into the specific needs of women. The introduction of Master Farmers and Farmer Facilitation Centres as part of the Joint Liability Group (JLG) initiative is also recent. Kudumbashree Mission is now looking towards the creation of JLG collectives. The BUDS Rehabilitation Centre for the mentally challenged, home shops and monthly/festival markets for marketing produce of the micro enterprises, Café Kudumbashree as part of the micro enterprise initiative, producer collectives are among the other new initiatives of Kudumbashree.
How are the women responding to the new initiatives?
Women feel that the initiatives have given them respectable space and voice in their households, both physical and political. The experience sharing by Kudumbashree women has been a successful initiative.
The experiences of the women and their transformation were compiled into books. Each CDS produced a book. A PusthakaYatra (journey of books) was organised. Books were collected and cultural rallies were organised from Kasargode and Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam where the rally ended and 1072 books were released. The whole process was a metaphor that showed how personal transformations happened through collectives. It boosted the confidence levels of the women. Theatre fests were held as part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of Kudumbashree. While on one hand, it was an opportunity for the women to exhibit their talents and express their emotions, on the other hand, it brought back the local culture of the state. The initiatives thus brought multiple results.
What is the one most recent innovation in KS?
The Participatory Assessment of Poverty Status (PAPS) is a recent and ongoing initiative of Kudumbashree. It focuses on strengthening governance within an NHG. There are 12.5 lakh volunteers from 2.5 lakh NHGs across 40000 centres. The basic objective is that Kudumbashree women should themselves be able to identify their status and take necessary steps to find solutions for it, at their own level or with the help of the network. This would politically educate them.
A Kudumbashree unit is a local social institution that should along with all its other activities; indulge in micro level self – governance. As a primary step to this, on 26 January 2014, all NHGs held full day meetings at their own places, answered a questionnaire and graded the status of their own NHGs. They identified the poorest among them and listed down their needs. Further they would think of solutions to solve it within the NHG itself, or else take it to the next level. They could provide two kinds of support – financial support or support based on rights and entitlements. Based on the issues and the respective solutions identified, the NHG would make an action plan. In the process, the members would get sensitised that an NHG is also a self – governance mechanism and they have the capacity to fight poverty.
What are the hurdles faced by KS?
As of today one of the hurdles that persist is that caste/religion based political organisations make similar SHGs. This leads to multiple memberships and multiple loans, the latter being a problem as it creates a financial trap. Another issue is the slandering of women who come up through the Kudumbashree network and begin to actively engage in the socio – political space by the men and society. Their growth is being seen as a threat by the male community. A third hurdle would be that banks when approached for opening account/loans by Kudumbashree women still show red tapism, making it a cumbersome process.Cooperative banks usually provide friendly service, but that is not the case with the others. Bank managers need to be sensitised and the bank space needs to have a women-friendly atmosphere.
Is KS nearer to its goal of poverty eradication in Kerala?
Yes. Kudumashree has clearly resulted in economic and social empowerment.
How has KS overcome the limitations of both the policy design and implementation process, in other words how has it evolved?
The mass base and wide community reach created through Kudumbashree cannot be negated by any political movement. The democratisation of organisation in Kerala increased rights – based sensitivity in the community. This indeed improved the social pressure capability of the network on political parties. This has created a sense of respect for the Kudumbashree movement. Today, everybody accepts the activities of Kudumbashree. This social process should in fact be studied by academicians in detail.