Kudumbashree
Kerala model of governance Welfare state to local governance High PQLI – esp for women Great record in poverty alleviation
Kudumbashree Huge social organisation of poor women Combination of self selection and facilitation by local governments Coverage nearly 100% of the poor State sponsored mission support
Independent community network Strong local government interface Bonding for voice Gender self study for women empowerment
Livelihood interventions Support to 300,000 women in farming (cultivators) plus micro enterprises – animal husbandry, food processing, manufacture, services etc Closing the loop in local economic development
Challenges in livelihood support Aim – to increase returns from livelihood interventions – Low technology – Low working capital access – High production costs – Low market penetration – Under utilisation of capacity
strategies Profiling – Local economic profiles – Demand plans for livelihood Capacity building – GOT, EDP, skill trainings – MECs – KAASS Market – Brand building of kudumbashree – Monthly markets and fairs – Home shops Stakeholders – LSG convergence – Micro finance – Bank liaison – Technology negotiations – Private partner negotiations Scale – Samagra – across the value chain for produce/product – Consortium – consolidation of micro enterprises
Scale Whether scale can reduce production costs? Where are the resources to bring scale? What value addition and technology can be adopted locally? How does one manage the market? Who coordinates all this?
How can the poor benefit from the value chain? Where do they come in as stakeholder? – Pawn, horse, knight, queen, king? What control do they have over management decisions? How to ensure there is no elite capture? What management structure will be sensitive to their concerns?
Apathy! Discipline! No value chain management is going to benefit the poor if you do not find strategies to fit in the context of where they are coming from and strategies to overcome or at least manage/mitigate their social handicap
Thank you!