Country: INDIA
Municipality : PADMANABAPURAM and KUZHITHURAI
Taluk : VILAVANKODE & KALKULAM
Blocks : 6 blocks - Kurunthancode, Thuckalay, Thiruvattar, Killiyoor, Munchirai, & Melpuram

State: TAMILNADU

District: KANNYAKUMARI

VISION

“Towards a Sustainable Humanistic and Just Society based on the principles of Love, Peace, Justice, Equality and Fraternity”.

MISSION

“To restore the lost human dignity and human rights of the poor and the marginalized through a participatory process; so that they bring about basic changes in Socio- Economic, Political and Cultural realms including Internal & External and Personal & Societal spheres of Human Kind”.

LONG TERM OBJECTIVES

• Analytical studies to be made available and used for the development of the identified target people.
• Need based groups (Sangams) to be formed.
• People to plan and to implement for their own transformation.
• Instilling social concern and social responsibility among the people.
• Special intervention plans be designed to improve the status of Children, Women, Fish Vendors, Cobblers, Children, Physically and Mentally challenged people ( Differently able persons), Scheduled castes, Scheduled tribes, etc.
• Promote higher education with well planned intervention.
• Availing information on the government welfare schemes and the ways to benefit them.
• Self-employment opportunities to be made available.
• Promote small scale industries.
• Organize and encourage the agricultural labourers, fish vendors, artisans and construction works to participate in their respective government sponsored social welfare boards.
• Encourage and promote active participation of men and women in democratic structures like Panchayats institutions.
• Special target based groups be formed to approach the government to avail the benefits of all the public facilities and infrastructure necessary for better living condition.
• Encourage people to participate in Self Help Groups (SHG).
• Encourage and promote public reading rooms (library) and communication facilities.
• Provide carrier guidance to choose job oriented professional studies.
• Better Housing, Sanitation, Water and Electricity for all.
• Increase the awareness on Sanitation, Environment and Ecology.
• To promote organic farming and bio composed manure
• Spread and promote the use of traditional medical practices like Sidda, Ayurvedic, Unani and Naturopathy.
• Awareness education on changing socio, economic political and cultural situations
• Introduce and promote counseling courses and family counseling.
• To respond to the needs of the people according to the need of the hour.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF KIDSS

There are ten units functioning under Kuzhithurai Integral Development Social Services, concentrating the various social ethnic groups and people engaged in particular profession.

Dalit development Programme (DDP)

From its inception, KIDSS concentrated more on the problems of the dalits who are very much discriminated by the high cast people. The target people of this programme belong to five communities viz. Barbers, Dhobis, Kaanis, Pulayars and Sambavars. Out of the total population of Dalits 50% are Dhobis, 25% are Barbers and 25% are Sambavars, Pulayars and Kaanis. The majority of the people of these communities are homeless, poverty stricken and leading a very miserable life.

The Dalit Development Programme is taking its maximum effort to develop the living of these people by way of organizing them into Dalit Development Units (Association) and giving awareness and empowerment inputs. Thus the Dalit Development Program and the target people have a strong hope that we can try for some daring steps to improve the status of the target people in respect of social, education and economic situation. There are 59 groups with 787 members at present

Rural Motivation Programme (RMP)

Rural Motivation Program started in the year 2002. Its target people are agrarian men and women and those who toil with the land. RMP, as a unit of KIDSS, has formed these browbeaten people into Sangams (Village Development Society) and now motivates them to take up issues and problems affecting the people and community at large.

These people’s welfare associations encourage and support the illiterate and the poor to become good leaders and train them to be sustainable and independent. 119 groups are formed with 3402 members and it has four people’s Bank.

Community Health Development Programme (CHDP)

Community Health Development Programme is spread over 35 villages. There are eleven staff members who go to these villages, giving awareness to the people on health and hygiene. Recently, a qualified doctor was appointed to treat the in-patients, who is also in-charge for conducting camps in the villages. Unlike the allopathic medicines, the naturopathy medicines have no side effects. The Community Health Development Program also concentrates on the mother’s health, particularly on their pregnancy period, HIV/AIDS infected people as well as affected people; promoting capsules like spirulina, preparing health mix at low price and distributing among the village people.

Interior Fisher-people Organization (IFO)

The interior fisher people have their origin at the sea coast; however, for their livelihood, they purchase fish from coast and sell in the interior villages, and thus, eventually proceeded to live in the inland villages. They do not go for fishing; rather, they are retail vendors of fish. Therefore, they are known as Inland Fisher People. In actual life, these interior fishermen do not have equal status as people who live at the sea coast.

KIDSS tries to organize them into Sangams (Associations) in order to prevent them from any type of enslavement. Right now, there are 50 Sangams at the village level, where people assemble each month, discuss their problems, resolve to settle the issues and thus get united in all endeavors. Acknowledging their problems for livelihood and human rights, KIDSS has set apart a separate unit for them, which is known as IFO, that is, Interior Fisher-people Organization.

Women Self Confidence Programme (WSCP)

The very concept of widows and their acceptance in the society even in this era of scientific advancement and technological progress is dejection, glumness and disheartenment. They are not supposed to have rights or needs or self-esteem for themselves. The outward appearance itself should mark a difference between the women who have husbands and widows.

The widows of Kanyakumari district are working as unskilled laborers in the following areas: cashew-nut factories, brick making industries, domestic servants, petty business like flowers, vegetables, fish, tamarind, coconut, tapioca sellers etc, assisting the masons, making baskets and scavengers who clean the public toilets and streets.

The income from these works is very minimal and it is very hard for them to manage their lives. There is no job security to these women. Many women do not enjoy good health due to various factors. Hospitalizations and medications throw them into great debts and to come out of such great money owing is inconceivable to them.

Kuzhithurai Integral Development Social Services has made a statistical study throughout the project area and identified 1113 widows who are deserving, helpless and drowning in life due to poverty, abandonment, sickness and unemployment. We formed 66 Sangams for all these widows.

Banana Farmers Development Programme (BFDP)

Banana Farmers are a sizeable number of workers in our project area. Most of them are landless farmers, who get land through lease and then do banana farming. The problems of these people are indescribable. They need to pay the lease amount for the land received from land owners, spend money for cultivation, work about 10 months in this land, and at the end, very often flood or heavy draught cause damages to the entire banana field. These farmers avail loan from bank or receive money for interest from private persons throughout these ten months, and finally lose everything. There are hundreds of suicides recorded due to such loss resulting great amount of debt.

In 2007, Kuzhithurai Integral Development Social Services made an effort to organize these banana farmers and now we have 147 Sangams in different villages, which are registered as Banana Farmers Self-Help Groups. The Unit for these people is called BFDP, that is, Banana Farmers Development Programme.

Vicariate Integral Development Social Services (VIDSS)

KIDSS works for the people of six vicariates of the diocese. Such a vicariate structure is called VIDSS. VIDSS is operative in our project area. These VIDSS coordinate the BIDSS at the parish level that is what we call Basic Integral Development Social Services. There are 147 BIDSS in the diocese.

Vicariate structures have executive committees and separate project directors to carry out the programme. All parishes and sub-parishes have become vibrant missionary centers due to the existing BIDSS programme.

Self Help Groups (SHG)

KIDSS and one of its units “Rural Motivation Programme” have jointly formed 198 Self Help Groups in this project area. There are three full-timers and several voluntary workers who organize these groups. Except a few, women are the members in all groups.

TASOSS ( New Thrust Programme (N.T. Program)

KIDSS is one of the 26 diocesan social service societies of Tamilnadu and Pondicherry States which is called TASOSS ( Tamilnadu Social Service Organisation). All these diocesan social service societies have a programme named New Trust Programme. This programme is aimed at the radical transformation in every sphere of people’s life in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry States.

Currently, the sixth phase of the New Thrust Programme is operative in KIDSS with 1 full time staff and ……. volunteers. Livelihood and Human Rights are the main target for this fourth phase. In addition to this, KIDSS has identified three areas of work for this fourth phase: a) Ecology (special attention to global warming); b) No to Drugs; c) Children’s Rights………………..

KIDSS Kolping India

KIDSS Kolping India project started in the year 2015with … groups. The objective of the project is

• to help people especially the poor to live in freedom from hunger, injustice and lead a dignified human life befitting the creation.
• To promote groups of the target people on the basis of the principles of KIDSS Kolping India and motivate them for savings.
• To implement, various developmental and welfare programs for the group members.
• To enable the group members to attain self-sufficiency in all spheres such as spiritual, economic, cultural and social and to live a community life based on harmony, fraternity and freedom.

The various activities under this project is

• Formation of groups and Capacity building
• Individual Income Generation Program (IIGP)
• Vocational Training Program (VTP)
• Sanitation Program (SAP)
• Promote small savings
• Housing program (HP)
• Collective Income Generation Program(CIGP)
• Milch Animal Program( MAP)

There are 33 groups with 655 members both men and women.