The Kudumbashree Story

Community Network

Community Network and LSGs

“The beauty of the Kudumbashree community organisation is its autonomy while working closely with local government. If they were under the local bodies, their autonomy would have been compromised; if they worked independently of local bodies, they would not have got the gains of democratisation”.

- S.M. Vijayanand, Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala, who was Principal Secretary, Local Self Government Department and a member of the three member Task Force that recommended the formation of Kudumbashree.

The community structure is embedded in the local self-government (LSG), but has an autonomous functional character of its own. The Welfare Standing Committee of the LSG is responsible for monitoring and guidance of the community structure as part of its constitutionally mandated role. Evaluation Committee at the local government level is an institutional mechanism that strengthens the convergence.