Intergenerational Informal Learning through Work Values and Community Empowerment among Waste-Picker Families in Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract

Background – Waste pickers contribute to urban recycling while experiencing livelihood insecurity and social marginalization. Their everyday work also creates informal learning settings in families and community networks. Research Urgency – Evidence remains limited on how work values are learned across generations and how participants connect them with community empowerment. Research Objectives – This study examined learning processes, recurring work values, and perceived empowerment pathways in a waste-picker community near Benowo, Surabaya. Research Method – A qualitative case study involved nine purposively selected adults: four waste pickers, two recyclable-material collectors, a village head, a community leader, and a local resident. Indonesian-language interviews, observation, and documents were analyzed through iterative coding and thematic comparison. Research Findings – Family socialization, guided participation in daily work, and community interaction reinforced responsibility, discipline, perseverance, cooperation, honesty, adaptability, and environmental awareness. Participants associated these values with livelihood continuity, social cohesion, environmental responsibility, and adaptive capacity, but structural vulnerability remained. Research Conclusion – Intergenerational informal learning may support community capabilities, yet it cannot substitute for occupational protection, social services, fair recognition, or safeguards against child labour. Research Novelty/Contribution – The study offers a provisional framework linking informal-learning settings and processes with work values and perceived empowerment pathways in an Indonesian waste-picker community.

Keywords

• Community empowerment
• Environmental sustainability
• Scavenger community
• Urban marginality
• Work culture inheritance.