Strengthening Digital Business Literacy and Economic Empowerment of Female Inmates Through the BERDIKARI Program

Sherly Ernawaty Susanto, Zerah Elisa Derek, Rosary Patricia Mekel, Najwa Amalia Bachdar

Abstract


 22 drug convictions and swindling-convicted female inmates ranging from ages 19-52 years-old at Rumah Tahanan Kelas II A Manado lack consistent access to learning resources to develop their knowledge in digital business or receive training in productive skills for employment after release. This paper features one community service activity with the goals to: (1) Improve marketing knowledge to operate a digital business, (2) Improve communication skills in business, (3) Learn a marketable handicraft trade, and (4) Maintain an interest in entrepreneurship long-term. This program was unique as it used a comprehensive PAR model to implement an interactive seminar on digital business, hands-on workshop training a handicraft trade, and run as a one-day intensive program inside a women’s prison. We used Participatory Action Research (PAR) design with three cycles of needs assessment, program implementation and evaluation to promote true empowerment of program participants. Information was collected from 22 participants pre and post activity using Likert scale questionnaires and observation. We found significant average gains in marketing knowledge (+53.8pp), communication skills (+48.5 pp), mastery of handicraft skills (+45.3 pp) and interest in entrepreneurship (+55.8 pp) with an overall mean increase of 50.85 pp. Participant satisfaction was 87.4%. This activity helps achieve SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by teaching participants entrepreneurial skills to attain stable job opportunities after their release from prison; as well as SDG 5 (Gender Equality) by teaching digital skills to incarcerated women who may be vulnerable to violence.


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/penadimas.v4i2.30775

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