www.smedsep.ph What's New as of as of 1 March 2007

[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 March 1, 2007

SMEDSEP held its first Monitoring and Re-Planning meeting for Phase 2 in Iloilo last February 27-28. Participants from DTI National and Visayas-based Regional offices plus GTZ discussed and shared information on milestones, and next steps on such issues as creating a Communication Framework and agreeing on a Monitoring Process for the Program. SMEDSEP will also have its Second Steering Committee meeting in the second week of March.

 

New Publications

• Study on Monitoring Implementation of the National Small and Medium Enterprise Development Action Plan (2006 – 2010), Siegfried M. Schoenherr, Enrique E. Lozari/GTZ December 2006. The study contains the findings of the consultants from their short mission in November to come up with a system for monitoring the implementation as well as the Results of the SMED Plan. 

 

National Updates

• The publication Streamlining Business Registration in LGUs - Six Good Practices - A Handbook for LGUs on how to simplify their business registration process was launched during the National Convention of League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) held earlier this year.
• As a follow-up to the Schoenherr-Lozari mission started in November (see ‘Publications’ section), SMEDSEP continues to support DTI in developing an M&E framework for the National SME Development Plan. The proposed SMED Results Framework (with revised indicators) has initially been validated with stakeholders in Focus Group Discussions with SMED Plan Activity Group Heads and invited resource persons (private sector, donors and academe. To achieve better results, the Framework is clustered according to 4 outcome groups: Business and Industry Enabling Environment, Access to Markets, Access to Finance, and Productivity and Efficiency. Efforts are being made to tie this up with the National Competitiveness Council and Anti-Red Tape Task Force.
• DTI (through the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development), GTZ and the Canadian International Development Agency (through its Pearl2 Program) are currently preparing a joint Memorandum of Understanding for supporting DTI in harmonizing SMED Plans across all provinces.
• SMEDSEP recently ventured outside of the Visayas to support DTI Region 3 in their Central Luzon Investment Coordinating Council (CLICC) Awards Day. CLICC follows an ISO-aligned streamlining approach for business registration, with the region’s Governors providing support, and LGUs sharing in the cost. The awards recognized 46 outstanding LGUs. A benchmarking visit to Region 3 will be jointly undertaken by the Regions 6-8, which SMEDSEP is actively supporting.

 

Regional Updates

Region 6

• SMEDSEP has signed Memoranda of Understanding with two Local Government Units. Mayor Jerry Trenas of Iloilo city and Mayor Santiago Barcelona of Escalante city have formalized cooperation with DTI and GTZ in streamlining their business registration procedures.
• The Aklan provincial SMED plan – the first province to harmonize its SMED plan with the National SMED Plan – has been disseminated to the Governor’s Office and is currently in the process of being integrated with other annual development plans.
• Meanwhile, some members of the Association of Chief Executives of Negros Occidental (ACE-NO), including Mayor Escalante himself, are requesting SMEDSEP to study a province-wide approach to streamlining business registration in Negros Occidental. SMEDSEP is preparing to engage a consultancy assignment to undertake the development of this strategy.
  

Region 7

• A harmonization workshop with select government agencies and LGUs took place in Cebu for the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (NERBAC). A series of workshops will subsequently take place so as to come out with a manual on how NERBAC operates for LGUs and Government Agencies, and will contain requirements on how to get a mayor’s business permit.
• In cooperation with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the GTZ Decentralization Program, SMEDSEP is currently studying the conversion of Cebu as Special Economic Zone.
• The Business Development Services (BDS) approach piloted and tested by SMEDSEP in the first phase has now been adapted by another GTZ project with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) on Developing a Management Approach for Eco-Industrial Development in Philippine economic zones. SMEDSEP will support the EID project in building the capacity for ecozone service providers under this approach, starting with a Business Planning workshop to be conducted this month.

Region 8

• A resolution has been obtained from the Provincial SMEDCouncil on the adoption of the harmonized Leyte SMED Plan. The next step is to present the plan to the Governor for integration, specifically in the provincial Tourism and Investment Plan.
• Likewise, the SMED Council adopted LRED approach for SMED Plan implementation (included in the resolution)
• A BDS Roadshow was recently conducted by the Program across the entire region, providing firsthand information on BDS market and its potential in Region 8. The roadshow is part of an effort to identify which provinces will adopt the BDS approach, which SMEDSEP would then eventually support in the implementation of the model.

 

Financial Services:

• An SME finance training market survey was completed. Results of the survey show that the demand for fee-based SME finance training is high among rural banks and thrift banks (above 90% in the sample). This further validates the aim of SMEDSEP to institutionalize SME Finance Training.
• In line with this institutionalization, four Training Service Providers have been pre-selected as potential institutions that SMEDSEP would support in sustainably offering and running SME Finance courses for rural and thrift banks. All four participated in a Business Planning Workshop sponsored by SMEDSEP. The next step is for the interested TSPs to submit Business Plans on running SME Finance trainings.
• The successful partnership between SMEDSEP and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines will continue until 2009, as agreed in a renewed Service Agreement signed with RBAP – which SMEDSEP began supporting back in 2004.

 

Trade Policy and Promotion Project

Updates on Trade in Services

• The Philippines health and tourism sectors got together for a training course on Trade in Services last January 19, 2007, where their technical knowledge on trade in services issues, in particular for health services, were enhanced through varied and lively discussions with local experts in the field of trade in services. The training course is being conducted by the GTZ Trade Policy and Trade Promotion Project, in close cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Public Private Partnership Task Force (EO 372). The sessions will be concluded on March 9, 2007, with the participants presenting a mock schedule of commitments and negotiating positions for the health sector and for medical tourism.
• On March 20, 2007, the GTZ Trade Policy and Trade Promotion Project in cooperation with the Center for Research Communication, and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), will be holding a stakeholders’ consultation with various representatives of the ports and maritime sector. The dialogue is seen to identify the key transport and logistics issues that impede the sectors from fully benefiting from the gains of liberalization.
• In line with its continuing thrust to capacitate program partners, the GTZ Trade Policy and Trade Promotion Project is also sending a nominee from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Springfield Centre for the course “Making service markets work for enterprise competitiveness” which aims to provide participants with a thorough understanding of the market development approach for business services, its implications and uses for their organization. Two other nominees, from the Department of Transportation and Communication are also being considered for the advanced course, Trade in Services, of the APEC Economic Integration Program which addresses the growing importance of the service sector in the global economy.

 

Updates on Trade in Aquaculture

The Aquaculture Component of the GTZ Trade Project is still implementing the Capability Building for the Food Safety Program of the Milkfish Value Chain in Region 6 (see previous update). This capability building package aims to enhance stakeholders’ understanding of the value chain on product safety and quality. Kindly note the change in dates:

• Phase IV – April 16-20, 2007
• Phase V – April – Sept. 2007

 

German Development Cooperation (GDC) Updates

The GDC Sustainable Economic Development Sector Yearbook 2006-07 is now available for downloading.