Youth Empowerment through a Local Potential-Based
Entrepreneurship Training
Mustofa Kamil, Dadang Yunus and Cucu Sukmana
Nonformal Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Empowerment, youth, training and local potential.
Abstract: The youth-dominated unemployment rate at productive ages is a current social problem that should be
addressed immediately. The youth should be the economic driving force by utilizing local potentials. The
present study was aimed at empowering the youth through a local potential-based entrepreneurship training.
This paper describes the empirical conditions of the target area and how the local potential-based
entrepreneurship training is implemented. The study was conducted using a qualitative descriptive method.
The data were collected through interviews, observation, literature review, and document analysis. The
respondents were 9 persons. The results revealed that the society in target area was heterogeneous in terms of
sex, occupation, and education background. The training was implemented using a management approach
consisting of the following phases: preparation, assessment, alternative program planning, action plan
formulation, implementation, evaluation, and termination.
1 INTRODUCTION
Globalization offers a global challenge and
competition that demand peoples to improve their
qualification. Globalization is actually not a new
thing and has started since the era of empires in the
15th century and developed with the establishments
of nation-states in the 17th century. The inventions of
advanced communication and transportation
technologies that facilitate cultural exchange and
international economic transactions have accelerated
the process of globalization, resulting in a social
change (Mubah, 2010; Yuniarto, 2014).
James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer said that
globalization can be construed as a process of
national and global market liberalization resulting in
a free trade, capitalization and information with a
belief that this situation will boost economic growth
and improve human welfare (Petras, 2001).
As a result, a country’s development process is
inevitably influenced by the effects of globalization.
The key factor that should be paid great attention to
in the development is human resources (HR).
According to Emil Salim, there are two important
things worth paying attention to in an effort to
improve the quality of HR. The first is the
improvement of HR in terms of physical quality
including health, fitness, and community nutrition.
The second is the improvement of HR in terms of
non-physical quality including education and skills,
mental and spiritual development, work ethic
improvement, and work productivity improvement
(Yunus, 2010).
Therefore, it can be said that the HR improvement
in terms of material and spiritual quality are equally
important. The ultimate goal is how to empower the
community so as to improve their education and
welfare to free them from ignorance, poverty and
backwardness so that they can live a decent and
independent life.
The quality of the youth can be improved through
the provision of education and training by the
community learning center (CLC). This is in line with
what the UNESCO described that a community
learning center is a non-formal educational institution
for rural and urban communities managed by the
community itself to provide them with opportunities
to develop various learning models in order to
develop the skills so that they can improve the quality
of life and create an active community learning center
(UNESCO, 2000) to support the fulfillment of the
millennium development goals (Jensen and
Esterhuysen, 2001; Rahman, 2005; Kamil, 2012;
Oana and Victor, 2015; UNESCO, 2000; Indah and
Indah, 2015).
The youth is an asset upon which a nation’s
progress rely (Ersas, et. al., 2017). They are parts of
human resources and our nation’s basic capital that
Kamil, M., Yunus, D. and Sukmana, C.
Youth Empowerment through a Local Potential-Based Entrepreneurship Training.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 1, pages 487-492
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
487

can greatly contribute to the national development.
They can be a significant moral force, social control,
and agent of change of the nation. Therefore, youth
development should be given a high priority.
Otherwise, the youth unemployment rate will
increase.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that from
February to August 2014, the unemployment rate in
Indonesia increased by 0.09 million people or from
7.15 to 7.24 million people (www.bps.go.id). From
February 2014 to February 2015, the number of
unemployed in Indonesia increased 300 thousand
people, from 7.24 to 7.45 million people. This
unemployment rate is dominated by the youth at their
productive ages, ranging from 15 to 24, who are
supposed to be the economic driving force. In
addition to the youth-dominated unemployment,
poverty also becomes a social problem that should be
addressed immediately in today’s globalization era.
Global poverty and impoverishment can be defined as
poverty as a result of the globalization of free trade
advocated by developed countries (Wiranta, 2007).
Looking at this unemployment phenomenon, it is
necessary to empower the youth through a need-based
entrepreneurship training especially by utilizing local
potentials. The importance of the youth
empowerment through this training is amplified by
the statement of Ida Bagus Permana that in 2020-
2030 Indonesia is projected to have the so-called
demographic bonus, i.e., the number of productive
population (ages 15-64) will reach approximately
70% of the total population, and the non-productive
people (ages below 14 and above 65) are only 30%
(www.bps.go.id).
The local potential-based training to improve the
youth capacity and capability can become a key
solution to the social problems by optimizing the
local conditions, characteristics, and potentials.
Therefore, the youth empowerment through a
local potential-based entrepreneurship training is
worth studying in the field of community
empowerment and education. The result is expected
to positively contribute to the social problem solving.
2 METHOD
This descriptive study was conducted at the Ash-
Shoddiq CLC, involving 7 respondents that consisted
of 4 youth students, 1 CLC administrator, 1 tutor, and
1 supervisor. The aim was to describe the social
problem occurring at the site and its development in
the recent years.
The study was conducted using a qualitative
approach. Using this approach, this study is expected
to provide a full description of the research object.
The qualitative approach was selected in accordance
with the research problems and upon the following
considerations: 1) a qualitative approach is suited for
studying real phenomena, 2) a qualitative approach
can directly describe the nature of researcher-
respondent relationship, and 3) a qualitative approach
enables a deep analysis.
The focal point of the study was to describe the
empirical condition of the target area of the youth
empowerment and the implementation of the youth
entrepreneurship training. The data were collected
through field note taking, documentation,
observation, and interviews (Moleong, 2007).
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The study on the youth empowerment through local
potential-based entrepreneurship training present two
discussions:
3.1 The Empirical Condition of
Pagerwangi Society
Pagerwangi is a village in Lembang, Bandung Barat.
Its elevation is 1,300 m above sea level, its rainfall is
188 mm, and its average temperature is around 20 °C.
It is located 3 km from the subdistrict of Lembang, 37
km from the capital city of Bandung Barat, and 19 km
from the capital city of Jawa Barat.
Geographically, Pagerwangi is mountain area
located in northern Bandung at an elevation of 1,442
m above sea level and has a total area of 415.534 ha.
It belongs to the administrative subdistrict of
Lembang, Bandung Barat.
The results of interviews and document analysis
revealed that the society in target area was
heterogeneous in terms of sex, education background,
and occupation. These three HR potentials should be
optimized through a community empowerment in a
local potential-based training setting.
Local potentials are all kinds of beneficial
resources existing in a community environment. They
are the dominant factors that cannot or hardly be
found in other areas (Sudjana, 2004).
The study of local potentials provides an overview
of the community tradition in utilizing natural and
social resources wisely to ensure a balanced
environment. This means that the society are
demanded to have a management skill to optimize the
locally available resources. Below a more detailed
discussion:
1) Population by Sex
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
488

On record, the population of Pagerwangi in 2016
was 10,185 consisting of 5,300 males and 4,885
females. The density is moderate. The number of
nuclear families was 3,030. The detail is presented
in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Population by Sex.
Source: Authors’ Documentation, 2016.
2) Population by Occupation
The population of Pagerwangi are varied in their
occupation. 1,367 are farmers, 978 are farmhands,
975 retailers, 78 civil servants, and 28
police/military officers. 452 private employees,
387 skilled workers, 489 service professionals, 34
craftsmen, 229 others/unemployed. The detail is
presented in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Population by Occupation.
3) Population by Education
Based on the education background, as many as
1,478 are elementary school graduates, 519 are
junior high school graduates, 539 are senior high
school graduates, and 91 are higher education
graduates. In other words, their awareness of
education is relatively high.
The detail of Pagerwangi population based on
their education background is presented in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Population by Education.
3.2 The Implementation of Local
Potential-Based Entrepreneurship
Training
The local potential-based entrepreneurship training
developed and organized by the non-formal education
institution, which is the CLC, was implemented using
a managerial approach and participatory andragogic
method. This is in lie with what Kindervatter said that
the role of non-formal education is an empowerment
(Kindervatter, 1979; Ife, 2008).
Technically, the training has the following
components:
(a) The instructional materials consisted of three
categories: (1) skill materials, (2) general
materials, (3) supporting study groups.
(b) The training used participatory andragogic
and problem-solving methods.
The instructional techniques were discussion,
lecture, simulation, question-answer, and
demonstration. The training phase is illustrated in
Figure 4:
78
975
1367
978
865
Source: Authors' Documentation, 2016
Civil Servant
Retailer
Farmer
Laborer
Others
1478519
539
91
Source: Authors' documentation, 2016
Elementary
School
Junior High
School
Senior High
School
Higher Education
Youth Empowerment through a Local Potential-Based Entrepreneurship Training
489

Figure 4: Training Implementation Phase.
Below is the explanation of the above training
implementation phase:
a) Preparation Phase.
In this phase, the organizer did two things: (1)
the preparation of field workers (facilitators)
who would be assigned to explore data (target
trainees and resource person) and (2)
feasibility study of the natural and HR
potentials of the target area.
b) Assessment Phase.
What was done at this phase were as follows:
(1) Identifying the needs of the society and the
local potentials of the target area. It was
revealed that Pagerwangi society chose to earn
their livelihood from food processing industry.
This came as no surprise as their natural
potentials are such vegetables as broccolis,
tomatoes, chilis, and cassavas that had not
been optimally processed to be prospective
beneficial products. In the assessment process,
the target trainees were actively involved in
order for them to identify their own needs. (2)
Identifying resource person: The resource
person in the training was Mr. Sulaeman. He
lived in Babakan Bandung, Pagerwangi,
Lembang, Bandung Barat. He was a pilot joint
business group leader.
(3) Identifying the target trainees: the
participants were business women,
unfortunate family members, and primary and
secondary school graduates. (4) Identifying
business partners: The business partners were
the parties who provided assistance to the
trainees in improving their skills in order for
their products to meet the food standards set
by the Health Office. The business partners
were retailers at the Panorama Market,
Lembang. (5) Mapping and analyzing the
situations: the prospective joint business
groups prepared the production workshop,
ensured the basic material supplies, and
obtained the business permit from the related
officials.
c) Alternative Program Planning Phase.
At this phase, the organizer, supervisor, and
target trainees had a sharing session about the
trainees’ needs. The organizer and supervisor
acted as the facilitators who encouraged the
trainees to raise their opinions. Having
analyzed the needs of the trainees, the
organizer assigned the trainees into business
groups consisting of a leader, treasurer, and
product marketing staff.
d) Action Plan Formulation Phase.
At this phase, the organizer and the supervisor
provided assistance to the joint business group
in arranging a business proposal to be
submitted to the financiers. At this phase, they
should be able to determine their short-term
target and how to achieve it.
e) Implementation Phase.
This is the most crucial phase in the process of
training in which the organizer, target trainees,
community leader, and government must work
collaboratively to ensure that the training is
implemented according to the plan. Some
activities at this phase are as follows:
1) Program socialization: This was carried
out to provide the trainees, related
government officials, and the community
leader with theory and practice of the
training program. The program
socialization began with business training
for women, attended by target trainees,
resource person, and facilitator, and local
government officials including village
head (kepala desa), subdistrict head
(camat), the Pagerwangi Family Welfare
Movement (PKK), and Education Office.
Chair of the organizing committee Mr.
Syahidin conveyed a report speech about
education program and life skills, the
subdistrict official delivered a speech, and
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the non-formal education supervisor Ms.
Neneng officially opened the training of
Pagerwangi kecimpring processing.
At this stage, the trainees were asked to
draft a learning contract to ensure their
sincerity to participate in the training and
practice what they learn in the real
business activities.
2) Training: The training took place for two
days, followed by a two-month mentoring
program. The instructional activities
consisted of both theory and practice.
3) Technical assistance: the trainees practice
the knowledge and skills they obtained
from the training by preparing and
developing food product models. Their
products were tried out, assessed, and
tested by the resource person and business
partners. When the product is deemed
feasible for sale, the mass production and
marketing began.
f) Evaluation Phase.
Evaluation is basically a continous
observation, measurement, and guidance
conducted since the preparation phase to the
implementation and follow up phase. The aim
is to measure the achievement of program
objectives. The evaluation were carried out not
only to measure the product quality but also
the instructional process, implementation,
result and effect. The evaluation was even
focused on the production process
(instructional activities), implementation
management, trainees’ activities, packaging,
and marketing, both online and offline.
g) Termination Phase.
This phase is the termination of the
relationship with the target community. This is
frequently done not because the target
community have been considered to be self-
reliant, but because the project is over. The
post-program intervention is carried out
through a mentoring program.
The mentoring program is a process of
participating, closely accompanying, and
collaborative working to achieve the desired mutual
objectives. The mentoring in this program was done
through supervision, assistance, and guidance.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The youth empowerment through an
entrepreneurship training by optimizing local
potentials becomes a key solution to the social
problems. This training could improve the
entrepreneurship skills of the youth in particular and
Pagerwangi society in general. The training was
implemented using a management and participatory
andragogic approach consisting of the following
phases: preparation, assessment, alternative program
planning, action plan formulation, implementation,
evaluation, and termination.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the Ash-Shoddiq Community
Learning Center, Pagerwangi for granting them a
permit to conduct a youth empowerment activity
through a local potential-based entrepreneurship
training. They also thank the Institute for Research
and Community Services of Universitas Pendidikan
Indonesia for funding this research.
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