Empowering Penghulu and Religious Counsellors for Community-Based Family Conflict Mediation in Tanah Laut Regency

Household conflict may undermine marital relations, child well-being, family resilience, and community welfare when it is not addressed early. In Tanah Laut Regency, penghulu (marriage registrars) and Islamic religious counsellors are socially trusted and frequently consulted by families; however, their structured competencies in providing early conflict assistance remain uneven. This community service program aimed to strengthen their capacity by integrating contemporary Islamic family jurisprudence, iṣlāḥ, mediation skills, risk awareness, and referral mechanisms. The partner institutions were the Ministry of Religious Affairs Office of Tanah Laut Regency and local Religious Affairs Offices (KUA). The program employed Participatory Action Research combined with Asset-Based Community Development (PAR-ABCD) and comprised field observation, stakeholder discussions, capacity building, case-based training, reflection, and a 25-item Likert-scale post-training evaluation. Forty participants completed the evaluation: 17 penghulu and 23 religious counsellors. The overall mean was 4.36/5, with 93.5% of responses in the agree/strongly agree categories. Conceptual understanding was strongest, while emotion management, root-cause identification, constructive dialogue, and referral recognition required further practice. The program produced a provisional Community-Based Family Iṣlāḥ Assistance Model linking early assistance with formal or professional referral when necessary.