Youth at the edge of employment: local mentoring, skills training, and livelihood pathways in indonesian rural communities

Abstract

Background: Rural youth in Cibeber Subdistrict face fragmented transitions between education, informal work, and sustainable livelihoods within a population of 143,718 residents, including 32,955 people aged 15–29. Objective: This community engagement program aimed to strengthen livelihood planning, employability, and practical pathway development among 40 participants aged 18–29. Method: A participatory planning–implementation–monitoring-evaluation design combined baseline questionnaires, attendance records, mentoring logs, output rubrics, pre-post assessments, focus groups, partner validation, and follow-up indicators covering participation, capacity, output quality, pathway action, and institutional continuity. Results: Planning produced three coordination meetings, 40 baseline records, six stakeholder categories, five instruments, and a 12-week activity schedule aligned with locally mapped needs and referral opportunities. Implementation delivered eight training sessions with 86.9% attendance, documented 31 completed livelihood portfolios, and recorded 27 participants completing at least three mentoring cycles. Monitoring and evaluation found that matched mean capacity scores rose from 48.0 to 65.6, 26 of 31 submitted outputs met the competency threshold, and 25 participants documented at least one livelihood-pathway action during follow-up. Novelty: This program advances a data-grounded mentoring model that connects participant diagnosis, situated practice, community validation, assigned institutional follow-up, and transparent evidence review across diverse rural livelihood contexts without treating short-term learning indicators as proof of final employment or income impact.