Kudumbashree, the community network built to work with Kerala's local self-governments

Background

Kudumbashree was launched in 1998 as a community network that would work in tandem with local self-governments for poverty eradication and woman empowerment.
Its origins lie in a community-led Poverty Identification Format developed in the early nineties as part of the Alappuzha Urban Basic Services for the Poor Programme.
By that time Self Help Groups promoted by NABARD and linkage banking had established themselves as a viable microfinance model.
In 1994 the Community Based Nutrition project of Malappuram tried to assimilate these experiences and develop a woman-based community structure for the delivery of government programmes.
The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution strengthened Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies.
The People's Plan Campaign for decentralised governance created strong local self-governments, panchayats and municipalities, in the State shortly before Kudumbashree was launched.
The Local Self Government Department of Kerala lists Kudumbashree among its allied institutions.