Community Service Based On Community Mentoring

Abstract

Community service is one form of implementation of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education, oriented towards community empowerment through a participatory and sustainable approach. Service activities that focus solely on outreach often fail to create sustainable change, thus necessitating a community mentoring approach to improve program effectiveness. This article aims to describe the implementation of community service based on community mentoring as an effort to increase community participation, knowledge, and independence. The implementation method used a participatory approach involving 60 participants consisting of community leaders, youth, business actors, and community members. The activity was carried out in five stages: preparation, program design, mentoring implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and follow-up. Data were obtained through observation, interviews, group discussions, documentation, and evaluation throughout the activity. The implementation results indicate that the mentoring approach increased community involvement in each stage of the activity, strengthened communication and collaboration among participants, enhanced understanding of the material presented, and encouraged communities to develop independent follow-up plans. This approach also strengthened synergy between the implementation team and the community, enabling more effective and sustainable program implementation. Thus, community service based on community mentoring can be a relevant model of service to support participatory and sustainable community empowerment.