KUDUMBASHREE – A PROJECT FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Women’s empowerment has five components: women’s sense of self –worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home, and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally. Women’s empowerment will enhance the quality and quantity of human resources available for development. Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) are the primary units of the Kudumbashree community organisation. Ten to twenty women from a neighbourhood form a NHG. Kudumbashree, a community organization of Neighborhood Groups (NHGs) of women in Kerala, has been recognized as an effective strategy for the empowerment of women in rural as well as urban areas: bringing women together from all spheres of life to fight for their rights or for empowerment. Kudumbashree is the poverty eradication and women empowerment programme implemented by the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM) of the Government of Kerala. The name Kudumbashree in Malayalam language means ‘prosperity of the family’. The name represents ‘Kudumbashree Mission’ or SPEM as well as the Kudumbashree Community Network.