Article Pemberdayaan Kader Posyandu Dalam Program GEMILANG (Gizi, Edukasi, Makanan Inovatif Laut Anak Nutrisi Golden) di Kelurahan Kolese

Stunting and child malnutrition remain pressing challenges in coastal areas such as Kolese Village, Baubau City, where despite abundant marine resources, a nutritional paradox persists with a stunting prevalence of 18.4%. The limited capacity of Posyandu (integrated health post) cadres in growth screening, nutrition education, and seafood processing constitutes a key barrier, while the utilisation of local marine products as innovative complementary feeding remains minimal. This community service programme aimed to strengthen the capacity of Posyandu cadres through the GEMILANG Programme (Nutrition, Education, Innovative Marine Food for Children's Golden Nutrition) to reduce malnutrition rates by downstreaming local seafood products. The activity was conducted in Kolese Village in May 2026, involving 10 active Posyandu cadres through a participatory, educational, demonstrative, and mentoring approach, comprising socialisation, nutrition training, hands-on processing of Indian mackerel-based products, and monitoring and evaluation using pre-test and post-test measures. The results showed significant improvement across all assessed aspects: management understanding rose from 55% to 100% (a 45% increase), food-processing skills rose from 49.09% to 100% (a 50.91% increase), and nutrition knowledge rose from 51% to 100% (a 49% increase). The programme also produced a standardised functional food product, Bakso GEMILANG, made from local mackerel. The implication is that Posyandu cadres were transformed from mere administrative recorders into competent, independent nutrition change agents. It is concluded that downstreaming local marine potential through cadre empowerment is an effective and sustainable strategy for addressing the nutritional paradox in coastal regions.