From Textile Waste to Women’s Livelihoods: A Community Empowerment Model for Circular Economy Development in Rural Indonesia

Nathalia Debby Makaruku; Feky Manuputty; Simona Christina Henderika Litaay; Afdhal

doi:10.67412/jppm.v2i2.52

Authors

Nathalia Debby Makaruku Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia
Feky Manuputty Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia
Simona Christina Henderika Litaay Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia
Afdhal Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2998-8628

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67412/jppm.v2i2.52

Keywords:

Circular Economy, Community Development, Sustainable Livelihoods, Textile Waste, Women's Empowerment

Abstract

Women's limited access to income-generating opportunities and the growing accumulation of household textile waste remain interconnected challenges in many rural communities in developing countries. This study aims to develop and evaluate a community empowerment model that transforms textile waste into sustainable livelihood opportunities through a circular economy approach. Using Participatory Action Research (PAR), the study engaged unemployed and low-income women in Nania Village, Indonesia, through a series of participatory interventions involving capacity building, textile upcycling, entrepreneurship training, and community-based business development. Data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, documentation, and pre- and post-intervention assessments, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, pattern matching, and logic model analysis. The findings demonstrate that textile waste upcycling significantly enhanced participants' technical skills, entrepreneurial capacity, self-confidence, household income, and economic participation while reducing household textile waste and strengthening collective organization and local market engagement. The study proposes the Circular Livelihood Empowerment Model (CLEM), which integrates local resource utilization, women's empowerment, circular economy principles, community institutional strengthening, and sustainable livelihood transformation into a coherent conceptual framework. This model contributes to community development scholarship by offering a replicable approach for integrating circular economy practices with women's economic empowerment in rural and other developing contexts.

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