www.smedsep.ph What's New as of as of 29 December 2006
Ben Arvin dela Cruz
This is the Monthly Email Newsletter
of the DTI-TESDA-GTZ SMEDSEP
Program.
Visit our website at
www.smedsep.ph for more
information.
As of December 29, 2006
Happy New Year! Just before the Holiday Season, we revised our website to reflect SMEDSEP Phase 2. Check it out on www.smedsep.ph. New features include a Photo Gallery and Papers and Reports classified by topic.
New Publications
- "Streamlining Business Registration in LGUs - Six Good Practices" GTZ/DTI 2006: A Handbook for LGUs on how to simplify their business registration process
- “Streamlining Business Registration and Licensing Procedures - Experiences from the Philippines and Vietnam" Ulla Keppel, Le Duy Binh, Julius Spatz/GTZ 2006
- The SMEDSEP Steering Committee (comprised of DTI Undersecretaries Amelia Alonzo, Carissa Cruz-Evangelista and GTZ Program Manager Martina Vahlhaus) convened on December 11 and approved SMEDSEP’s 3-year milestones and 2007 operational plans.
- To support the monitoring of the National SME Development Plan on national, regional and provincial levels, SMEDSEP is supporting the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation System to assist DTI and other SMED Plan implementers. Consultants Dr. Siegfried Schoenherr and Ricky Lozari held a stakeholder workshop to come up with a system for monitoring the implementation of the SMED Plan as well as the Results of the SMED Plan. Their findings, which will be published on this website, will serve as input to harmonizing Provincial SMED Plans across the country. Mr. Lozari will conduct a follow-up assignment starting in January to continue the development of the M&E System with various stakeholders, which will include revising the SMED Plan indicators and creating a harmonized monitoring template.
Region 6
- Work is under way to ensure that Aklan’s Harmonized SMED Plan is integrated into the Province’s other development plans. The SMED Council has committed to presenting the Harmonized Plan to the Governor’s Office, Provincial Development Council, League of Municipalities, and other concerned proponents.
- 3 LGUs have signified interest in implementing the ‘Streamlining Business
Registration’ model that SMEDSEP is promoting as one way to improve the
business and investment climate. The Program is currently working on
signing Memoranda of Understanding can with the cities of Escalante,
Iloilo and Bago
Region 7
- The Cebu Business Portal (www.cebubusinesswebportal.com), supported with the technical assistance of GTZ-SMEDSEP and the German Development Service, and under the leadership of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCCI), was launched last month. The portal is an enhanced version of the CCCI website – that is, it is more functional and friendlier, providing information about CCCI, business in Cebu, and investing in Cebu. The portal also contains a comprehensive database of businesses in Cebu as well as business matching features.
- The National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (NERBAC) was launched in Cebu last month. In the interest of enabling LGUs to improve their respective business climates in collaboration with the private sector, GTZ-SMEDSEP is collaborating with GTZ-Decentralization Program in supporting DTI Region 7 with its business licensing harmonization workshops with stakeholders. These workshops are in line with efforts to facilitate the full operation of NERBAC.
- SMEDSEP provided assistance in implementing DTI’s One Town One Product (OTOP) Visayas-wide Fair, which was held in Cebu last November 23-26.
Region 8
- As part of continuing cooperation between SMEDSEP and the Environment and Rural Development Program (another GTZ program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture), 20 representatives from public/private sector in Southern Leyte province were trained & coached in LRED with active support from GTZ and DTI.
- Representatives from GTZ, DTI and DA (Department of Agriculture) participated in the LRED Conference LRED to Overcome Poverty in Asia, held last November 21-25 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. SMEDSEP’s LRED champion in Leyte, DTI Provincial Director Ed Belas, presented the province’s LRED experience on Governance and streamlining of the business licensing process in Ormoc City. The experience elicited positive response, prompting discussions with other donor agencies on how they can learn from the Leyte experience (e.g. possible study tour to Leyte).
- Forty-eight people graduated from the Credit Risk Management Training of Trainers, which was held by GTZ and InWent in partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP).
- As stated in our previous update, the challenge for SMEDSEP Phase 2 is to institutionalize SME Finance trainings by identifying and strengthening the capacity of Training Service Providers (TSPs) which would sustainably run such training courses. A fact finding mission on the Institutionalization of SME Finance trainings has been completed, with 3 potential Training Service Providers pre-selected. The next step for the pre-selected TSPs is to provide technical assistance in writing their Business Plans.
- A further step to be taken in institutionalizing SME Finance trainings – so that sustainability of SME trainings is ensured when SMEDSEP comes to a close – is to do a market survey (“How big is the market for these training courses?”); SMEDSEP has contracted ARMDEV to conduct this survey till the end of January 2007.
Trade Policy and Promotion Project
Updates on Trade in Services
1. Trade in Transport Services:
Achieved:
Training Seminars for the Transport Sector Group on Trade in Services (TSGTS) from May 5 to June 30, 2006: The training seminar provided members from transport sector agencies with technical expertise on trade in services issues.
Together with the TSGTS the GTZ Trade team organized two major events:
- The Executive Briefing for the Department of Transport and Communication (DOTC) held on the 6th of November. This brought together heads of government agencies involved in or affected by issues surrounding trade in transport services. The CRC supported the meeting by presenting studies on: Air, Maritime and Ports services.
- The Air Transport Consultation held on the 21st of November. The event brought together private sector and civil society with government agencies to determine the key issues surrounding the competitiveness of the Philippine air transport services industry.
Upcoming:
Upcoming events include public-private sector consultations for the Maritime and Ports sector.
2. Trade in Health Services:
Upcoming:
A Trade in Services Training Course (for health services) is being organized for January. The workshop is intended for private and public sector actors working in the health sector. Training will focus on technical knowledge of trade in services issues, of global developments which affect the competitiveness of the Philippines, as well as the local issues surrounding trade in health services.
3. Bangkok Conference
Anja Gomm and Ceferino Rodolfo presented their research paper on Services Trade at the Asian Regional Consultative Conference for Enterprise Development in Bangkok (29th of November to the 1st of December 2006). The paper and presentation illustrated how trade in services negotiations can serve as a viable approach to improving the business environment through regulatory reform.
Updates on Trade in Aquaculture
The Aquaculture Component of the GTZ Trade Project will now implement the Capability Building for the Food Safety Program of the Milkfish Value Chain in Region 6. This capability building package aims to enhance stakeholders’ understanding of the value chain on product safety and quality. In turn, this package teaches producers how to develop and monitor their respective safety programs in order to comply with the EU market’s safety requirements.
Participation includes all stakeholders- from “farm to fork” as well as regulatory bodies, and trainers- with the purpose of creating a common understanding between the implementers, regulatory body and the consultant-trainers on areas that are required and monitored by the market.
The program is divided into five phases:
|
Phase I |
Orientation of Owners/Top Management People in SMEs/regulatory bodies/trainers.
|
|
Phase II |
Understanding the Pre-requisite Programs (Good Manufacturing and Aquaculture Practices and Standard Sanitary Operation Process) by
*Phase II for technical people (a & b) is tentatively scheduled on December 19-21, 2006 |
|
Phase III |
Concepts and Applications of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) Plan Development * February 2007 |
|
Phase IV |
Understanding ISO 22000:2005 and Integration of HACCP and Operational Pre-requisite Programs * February 2007 |
|
Phase V |
Coaching towards Stability and Sustainability *April 2007 |
German Development Cooperation (GDC) Updates
In an effort to strengthen coordination among the German Development organizations involved in the sector Sustainable Economic Development, representatives from CIM, DED, GTZ, InWent and KfW met on October 3 to exchange information on current and future plans. Watch this space for the documentation of the meeting, which takes the form of a Sustainable Economic Development Sector 2006 Yearbook that will include information on the organizations and SED good practices shared at the meeting.
Training
Business Planning Writeshop for potential SME Finance Training Service Providers (date to be announced)
Upcoming Events
Launching of "Streamlining Business Registration in LGUs - Six Good Practices" handbook and Audio-Visual Presentation at League of Cities of the Philippines’ meeting, January 8, 2007.
Links
Cebu Business Portal (www.cebubusinesswebportal.com)
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GTZ spotlight 2006: KNOWLEDGE POWERS DEVELOPMENT - sharing experience, shaping the future
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