Empowering Rural Women's Groups through Packaging Innovation and Business Training for Coconut Shell Biomass Briquettes

Abstract

Rural communities often face challenges in increasing the market value of locally produced goods when packaging capabilities and basic business-management skills are limited. Coconut-shell biomass briquettes have potential both as a renewable-energy product and as a means of utilizing locally available biomass residues. This community engagement program aimed to strengthen the capacity of a rural women’s group in packaging innovation and basic business-feasibility analysis for coconut-shell biomass briquettes. The program was conducted in Karangcangkring Village, Dukun District, Gresik Regency, East Java, on 23 May 2026 and involved 22 members of a women’s community group. A participatory approach combined interactive lectures, demonstrations, hands-on packaging design using Canva, group discussions, and practical exercises in calculating the cost of goods manufactured, setting selling prices, estimating profit, and determining the investment payback period. Program evaluation relied on a post-training questionnaire and facilitator observation. Participant responses were consistently positive: 61.9% strongly agreed that the packaging materials were easy to understand, 71.4% strongly agreed that they understood the importance of packaging, 57.1% strongly agreed that they could design product labels using Canva, 42.9% strongly agreed that they understood basic business-feasibility calculations, and 52.4% strongly agreed that they intended to apply the acquired skills. The financial simulation further showed that the reported production cost was below the proposed selling-price range. Overall, the program was well accepted and practically relevant. However, because no pretest or comparison group was used, causal conclusions regarding effectiveness or knowledge improvement cannot be drawn.