Kudumbashree's three tiers: neighbourhood group, area society, community society

Background

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'.
Kudumbashree has a three-tier structure for its women community network, with Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) at the lowest level, Area Development Societies (ADS) at the ward level, and Community Development Societies (CDS) at the local government level.
The community structure that Kudumbashree adopted evolved from the experiments in Alappuzha Municipality and Malappuram in early 1990s, and the network was extended to cover the entire State in three phases during 2000-2002.
Membership is open to all women, limited to one member per family.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India recognised Kudumbashree as the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).
2.23 lakh Neighbourhood Groups have live bank linkage loans worth Rs.8948 crores and are engaged in income-generating livelihood activities.
Kudumbashree has onboarded products on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform, and its National Resource Organisation has entered into MOU with over 16 states to support livelihoods and the panchayat-community interface.