Monday, October 6, 2008

More About Us

Kutumbsakhi is an organisation for women, of women and run by women.  Started in 1977 by 5 women headed by Dr. Chandrakala Hate, it is fundamentally a co-operative society, the purpose of which is to provide employment to poor, needy women, particularly to uneducated women who can at least do kitchen work.  This helps them tap their primary developed skill i.e. their kitchen work in order to earn a livelihood.  Preference is given to widows, divorcees and to those who have been neglected by their families.

The organisation has a  strong and charismatic leadership with a powerful  vision and mission.   It is currently headed by Mrs. Vandana Pramod Navalkar, who was one of the founding members of the organisation and has worked with it ceaselessly over the past thirty years.  She is ably supported by Mrs. Sandhya Belwalkar (Vice President) and Mrs. Aruna Murkar(Secretary).

Most of the workers in Kutumbsakhi are uneducated i.e. unqualified to obtain any job in a conventional organization.  Kutumbsakhi gives these women the opportunity to earn a livelihood without providing an affront to their sense of dignity.  Indeed the identification of these workers with the organization is so complete that for them it is akin to a second home with their friends and family.  Kutumbsakhi, in short, lives up to its name in totality.

This identification with the organization is so strong that it transmits itself to the customers of Kutumbsakhi and binds them together in an even larger family or Kutumb.

Initially, the organization started out with the objective of providing a means of livelihood for needy women.  However,  as the organization grew in size and experience, it started providing social security benefits like Pension,  Provident Fund, Education Benefits, Medical Benefits and Gratuity.  It also helps inculcate the savings habit in its employees by helping them with making fixed deposits etc.

All workers in Kutumbsakhi are shareholders of the society.  Thus they also reap the full benefits of their labour.

Kutumbsakhi today can proudly say that they have helped the originally destitute women develop into heads of their respective families providing not only for food in the house, but also for the education of their children.

The efforts of Kutumbsakhi also work well towards another basic need of Mumbai viz. that of providing tasty as well as hygienic food to people at reasonable rates.  This is done not only at our stalls, but also vide tiffins which are delivered in the Charni Road to Churchgate area in Mumbai

This organisation also plays a role of advocacy in the field of woman empowerment.  Kutumbsakhi is seen more or less as a social work endeavour than an an outright commercial business unit. All committee members are very dedicated towards the cause of women empowerment.  It combines traditional values, which have helped build up the organization into the strength it has, with a constant monitoring of the external environment in order to constant keep itself fighting fit to best serve both its constituencies i.e. its shareholders/ workers and our customers.

Kutumbsakhi  has also been honoured by WIMA an organisation of womens industrial association of Maharashtra in the year 2002 receiving the Best Organization award, as well as an award from Mumbai District Co-op bank.