One of the social problems resulting from poverty is the rise of the phenomenon of street children.
Unfortunately, the government cannot resolve this phenomenon entirely, so there are many ways to
implement it as an independent initiative from the community, both individuals and groups. These
activities usually focus on educating street children and marginalized groups, including the Pingit
Social Village (PSP) Yogyakarta. This community offers simple services for homeless families affected
by the economic crisis of 1965. The residents they support also come from the streets around
Yogyakarta and have assisted for approximately two years, so they are no longer on the streets. Like
other CSOs, they rely on volunteers to teach children as the target of their intervention. In this case,
PSP is also assisted by volunteers aged teenagers to adults who volunteer to help PSP with tasks to
achieve noble goals.
Of the many problems that arise, children’s character education is the most important thing to pay
attention to and resolve in the PSP community because character education is essential for forming a
quality next generation. However, volunteers considered this activity program ineffective in helping
overcome character education problems, and various obstacles emerged related to the lack of
competence of volunteers as teachers in the different program activities prepared. Therefore,
volunteers need to be equipped with soft skill competencies because their role as teachers and trainers
for children at PSP is vital. This is in line with the intention of the PSP management shortly to focus
on empowering the volunteers themselves; ultimately, the volunteers will be assisted in achieving
prosperity for all residents in the PSP. Based on this, a solution is proposed to overcome existing
problems by carrying out coaching and mentoring activities for volunteers to get skills training, which
can then be applied in the field considering that one of the current visions and missions of PSP is as a
social laboratory that volunteers can use to improve his social skills. Several skills are essential for
volunteers to carry out their role as teachers and companions for PSP children, such as public speaking
skills, leadership, and creativity in creating learning media such as icebreakers and other media, which
can help volunteers teach and accompany children. PSP community children have a variety of
different characters and backgrounds. This activity will be carried out offline by presenting
experienced speakers or trainers. The effectiveness of the training provided will be measured by
questionnaires distributed before and after the training to see the increase in knowledge and abilities
of the volunteers after participating in this activity. Apart from that, it is hoped that this activity can
be carried out continuously so that volunteer empowerment can continue to be carried out to achieve
the vision and mission of the PSP community itself in improving the character of children in the PSP
community