A 13-member team from Meghalaya is in the district to study the women empowerment joint ventures of the Kudumbasree Mission and the Pathanamthitta municipality.
The Meghalaya government has entrusted the team, attached to the Livelihood Improvement Finance Corporation there, to study the functioning of the Kudumbasree Mission in Kerala.
The team members were curious about the all-women ventures such as Café Kudumbasree, Nutrimix, She-Auto, and catering projects. Municipal chairman A. Sureshkumar and Kudumbasree Mission district co-ordinator Sabir Ali explained the functioning of women empowerment schemes and their socio-economic impact.
Team leader Ronald Kinda said unlike in Kerala where the Panchayati Raj system was strong, the women empowerment programmes in Meghalaya were implemented by the State government.
He said the team would submit a detailed report to the Meghalaya government. The team members also interacted with the She-Auto drivers in the town, workers at the Café Kudumbasree units, etc. Kunjukunjamma Varghese, panchayat standing committee chairperson, and Moni Varghese, Community Development Scheme president, were present.
The team also visited major Kudumbasree units in the grama panchayats of Malayalapuzha, Pandalam-Thekkekkara, Aranmula, and Chenneerkara.