The Village Community Empowerment Program (P2MD) is an activity organized by the Higher Education in the context of university service through student organizations to rural communities. In 2022 the Knowledge Development Student Activity Unit (UKM PP) of the Politeknik Negeri Semarang (Polines) divided its members into two teams for the implementation of the program.
The first team with the activity title "Economic Improvement Through Creative Houses as a Marketing and Production Means for Water Hyacinth Crafts" located in Sukodono Hamlet, Kebumen Village, Banyubiru District, Semarang Regency, Central Java has been successful through a series of P2MD implementation activities with the supervisor Yusuf Dewantoro Herlambang, ST, MT, Ph.D.
Team 1's P2MD activities involved the Kebondowo Village community as the main partners. P2MD activities are carried out in September-November 2022. P2MD implementation begins with visits to the target villages to coordinate and collect data. After that, the team held socialization and various trainings. There are also trainings carried out, namely: social media training, digital marketing training and tourism training. In addition, the team provided a new dryer to the village to support a more efficient production process. The activities did not only stop at the training process but continued with the procurement of “RumahKreatif” as a means of education and tourism for visitors. It is hoped that the existence of this "Creative House" will support marketing activities for water hyacinth handicrafts and add tourism value to Sukodono Hamlet.
P2MD activities in 2022 went smoothly according to the plan that had been designed. In the future, the team will periodically monitor village developments and provide input to support the creation of Sukodono Hamlet that is able to compete in the industrial era 4.0.
It is hoped that the Creative House and the P2MD activity program in the future will not only have a positive impact on the implementation of the Sukodono Village community, but will also have an impact on change for greater coverage for the surrounding community and the participation of the Politeknik Negeri Semarang to the community.