Empowering the Community of Japan Village through the Development of Coffee-Based Ecotourism and Local Culture
Abstract
This community service programme aims to increase the socio-economic capacity of the residents of Japan Village, Dawe District, Kudus Regency, through the development of coffee-based ecotourism and local culture. Japanese Village has the potential of coffee agrotourism on the Muria slope as well as a strong local cultural wealth, but it has not been optimally managed due to the limitations of managerial literacy, product branding, and the integration of cultural narratives in tour packages. This programme uses the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) method, and community empowerment model to ensure active community involvement in all stages of activities. The implementation of the programme is carried out through four main stages: (1) mapping the potential of coffee and village cultural assets; (2) ecotourism management training, cultural storytelling, and strengthening the identity of coffee products; (3) assistance in the design of coffee-cultural tourism routes; and (4) implementation of ecotourism package prototypes and participatory evaluation. Programme achievement indicators include increasing community competence in ecotourism management by at least 70% based on pre-post assessment, the formation of at least one cultural-coffee tour package, and the compilation of cultural interpretation manuscripts as tourism education materials, as well as the increased involvement of local coffee MSMEs in the ecotourism value chain. The results show that the programme is able to strengthen community capacity, revive local cultural values through tourism interpretation, and develop sustainable coffee ecotourism as a village creative economic model.
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