Kudumbashree’s Quick Serve in 20 urban local bodies now

Teams of professionals are trained to provide various services in houses and offices. Microenterprise units, comprising 30 to 40 members, being launched for the purpose

The Kudumbashree’s ‘Quick Serve’ initiative, launched earlier this month, now covers 20 urban local bodies in the State.

The Quick Serve teams of professionals are trained to provide various services in houses and offices. Based on the urban service team concept, the teams provide services such as domestic work, elderly and child care, car wash, house cleaning among other things. “We thought of introducing a single enterprise unit that can provide different urban services under the Kudumbashree,” says its Executive Director Jafar Malik.

Microenterprise units are being started in each urban community development society (CDS) of the Kudumbashree to provide Quick Serve services. Each unit will have 30 to 40 members, mainly neighbourhood groups (NHGs) members in the particular CDS.

Shortlisting

The unit will conduct a mobilisation campaign to determine who are willing to become part of Quick Serve. This will be followed by a shortlisting process and those selected will be provided a fiveday training.

Though the Quick Service model was initially developed for Thiruvananthapuram city under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission, it was extended to other urban areas too such as Alappuzha, Kayamkulam, Kottayam, Maradu, Thripunithura, Kalamassery, Guruvayur, Irinjalakuda, Chalakudy, Palakkad, Vadakara Payyannur, Koothuparambu, Neeleswaram, and so on.

Centralised training was conducted by the Kudumbashree for Thiruvananthapuram district that has two units each in four CDSs with five members in each unit. Of these 40 trained members, 11 have already got placements. Some of them have been receiving good pay too, Mr. Malik said.

Now with the number of team members exceeding 200 across the State, there are plans to develop a pool of master trainers to provide the training at the local body level itself. These trainers will cover a basic module spanning housekeeping, baby care, and other areas.

After this basic training, the Kudumbashree will shortlist the services of the trainees for specific areas and duration, be it hourly, parttime or weekly.

The Kudumbashree will also provide loans to these units for purchasing equipment for house cleaning or car wash services as part of its selfemployment programme.

A centralised call centre is also being developed for smooth operations. Refresher training is also being mulled after an analysis of the performances of the team members is conducted.