Community Development Society

Community Development Society - Alappuzha, India

The Community Development Society (CDS), Alappuzha (Alleppey) is a successful model of women in development that has now been replicated in 57 towns and one entire district in Kerala State. In 1993, 10,304 women from poor families, with support from UNICEF and the federal and state government, organised themselves into a Community Development Society. The objective of the CDS is to improve the situation of children under 5 and of women age 15 to 45 years. To meet this broad objective, the CDS has undertaken the planning, resource mobilisation, management, implementation and monitoring of programs and activities to eradicate hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Poor families were identified by the local community members through the use of a newly developed poverty index. The poverty index is based on the following nine risk factors used to indicate the risk of malnutrition and ill health: illiteracy, unemployment, sub-standard housing, lack of safe water supply, lack of sanitation, consumption of two or less meals per day, alcoholism, having one or more children under the age of five, and membership in scheduled castes and tribes.

The community structure of the CDS is organised in a three tier pattern with Neighbourhood Groups of women consisting of 20 to 40 poor families, Area Development Societies (ADS) at the ward level, and a Community Development Society at the town level. A bottom-up planning process is used where the neighbourhood groups prepare need-based plans at their level which are then integrated at the ward and the town levels.

The plans of the CDS include activities directed at eliminating the nine risk factors. The following are examples of these activities: enrolment in literacy programs, ensuring that children attend school, income generating schemes for women, thrift and credit, shelter upgrading, provisions of safe drinking water, low cost household sanitary latrines, kitchen gardens, food grain bank, immunisation, health care, nutrition, education, and child care.

The CDS has gained recognition and legitimisation from the government through official approval of CDS bylaws. The Government of Kerala has made statutory provision in the Municipalities Act to ensure pooling, targeting, and convergence of the anti-poverty program through the CDS. The CDS has resulted in the empowerment of women and the building of community leadership. It is a unique example of community based poverty eradication efforts by women. Since its small start in 1993, the CDS has grown to a large scale womens movement with membership of 357,000 poor women from rural and urban areas. They represent approximately 20% of poor people in the state.

As an apex body of CDS in the State, Kerala CDS has plans to spread this model to the entire state.