THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state’s highly successful Kudumbashree programme has found suitors in the Northeast.
Government officers of Kerala and Assam will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to extend the women’s self-help group model to 51 villages of the northeastern state.
The decision was taken during high-level talks in New Delhi and Assam. Local Administration Minister K T Jaleel, Kudumbashree executive director S Harikishore, Assam Rural Livelihood Mission chief financial controller Diganta Gogoi and State Programme manager Ajeet Narzary will sign the agreement at the minister’s office at 10 am on Tuesday.
The project will be extended to 51 village panchayats of Nagaon and Sonitpur districts in Assam. “The Kudumbashree has been running a poverty alleviation programme in 36 panchayats of Laharighat and Bajiyagaon blocks of Morigaon district in Assam since 2014,” said Kudumbashree executive director Harikishore. “The decision to expand the project was taken because of the huge success of this programme.”
Kudumbashree has been formulating and implementing women’s self-help groups and other livelihood projects in Assam as part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission. “To carry out these initiatives, we have made available the services of mentor resource persons from the regions where the programme is implemented as well as mentors working in other states with the help of the National Resources Organisation,” he said.
So far, the mission has successfully implemented projects in 13 states and one Union Territory.