www.smedsep.ph What's New as of as of 23 October 2006
SMEDSEP
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 23 October 2006
It’s been a while since we last posted an update – apologies for the delay! Needless to day we have been busy since SMEDSEP Phase 2 officially started on September 1, 2006.
Phase 2 kicked-off with a Planning Workshop held last September 20-22 in Taal Vista Hotel, Tagaytay City, where participants (mostly from GTZ, DTI with banking sector participation) jointly crafting Impact Chains (results chains) and 3-year Milestones, as well as one-year Operational Plans. All Visayan Provinces were represented by DTI at the workshop, paving the way to ensure that SMEDSEP is helping to make “Visayas, the location of Choice for SMEs.” Inputs from Phase 1 approaches, as well as from DTI Region 3 Director Bles Lantayona (on Region 3’s approach to streamlining the Business Licensing process) provided valuable insight on what could realistically be achieved in Phase 2.
This website will be updated to reflect the new framework of SMEDSEP 2. This may take a while. In the meantime, for our readers who are not yet familiar with the new framework of SMEDSEP-Phase 2, here is a summary of the Programme’s Objectives and Components:
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SMEDSEP PHASE 2 Overall objective:
COMPONENTS AND OBJECTIVES Component 1:
Component
objective: Component 2:
Component
objective: |
To manage complexity, the Program has been streamlined into 2 components, with component 2 handling ‘models’ that SMEDSEP has successfully piloted in phase 1 (i.e. approaches on Business Licensing, Local and Regional Economic Development, Business Development Services, and Financial Services).
It should be noted that updates will now be based on Operational Plans, which have been categorized into the following:
- National Plans: plans being implemented closely with the national level (i.e. BSMED)
- Region 6 Plans
- Region 7 Plans
- Region 8 Plans
- Financial Services: since Financial Services works closely with non-DTI institutions (apart from SBC, of course), this will also be given a separate reporting space.
- GTZ is cooperating closely with DTI (through its Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development) and CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) in Harmonizing the SMED Plans (i.e. that all provincial SMED Plans are harmonized with the National SME Development Plan). CIDA had supported BSMED in harmonizing the SMED plan in 17 pilot provinces across all regions. With the lessons learned from that piloting phase, CIDA will further refine the process of harmonizing the SMED Plan for all other provinces except for those in the Visayas, which GTZ will take over through SMEDSDEP. In the Visayas, the harmonization workshops took place in Aklan, Bohol and Leyte.
- DTI-BSMED and GTZ are working hard to ensure that the Handbook on Best Practices on Business Registration and accompanying Audio-Visual Presentation are launched at the League of Cities meeting on November 8, 2006.
Prior to the Kick-Off Planning Workshop in Tagaytay, the GTZ Regional Coordinators visited all Visayan provinces to get impressions on SME development in the various areas to better pave the way for how SMEDSEP can support SME development.
Currently, all 3 Visayan Regions are in the process of or have just finalized their Regional operational plans and are further fine-tuning them for each province.
In Region 6, SMEDSDEP will have a workshop next week to finalize Provincial Operational Plans in line with SMEDSEP until the end of 2007, so that the Program can be well-integrated into DTI’s Regular Work Plans. Apart from setting up a SMEDSEP Program Office in Iloilo City, SMEDSEP is also having discussions with Iloilo and Escalante cities, who have requested for support on streamlining the business licensing process in their cities.
In Region 7, a tri-partite MOA was signed by GTZ, DTI and the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) to pave the way for undergoing a feasibility study on proclaiming the entire province of Cebu as an ‘Economic Zone’, a status which could carry specific incentives and privileges to hopefully improve Cebu as an investment destination. SMEDSEP will also support the One Town, One Product (OTOP) Trade Fair on 22-25 November as this will take place in Cebu. Finally, GTZ is supporting CCCI in its launching of the Cebu Business (Web) Portal on November 15.
For Region 8, in line with SMEDSEP’s commitment in streamlining the business permit licensing process (BPL) as a means to having a better investment climate, DTI is already gathering information on which LGUs already have streamlined BPLs (e.g. DTI has conducted an orientation of selected LGUs on BPL streamlining in Biliran province). Cooperation with another GTZ Program (on Environment and Rural Development or ENRD) is also being strengthened; SMEDSEP will support ENRD in the Training of LRED Facilitators in Southern Leyte, and designing a mid-term strategy for linkages between ENRD and SMEDSEP.
In Phase 1, SMEDSEP implemented 5 training products on SME Finance (SME Finance for Bank Executives; Credit Appraisal and Monitoring; SME Finance Strategy and Marketing; Credit Risk Management and Credit Scoring; and Credit Pricing). The challenge for Phase 2 is to institutionalize SME Finance trainings by identifying and strengthening the capacity of Training Service Providers (TSPs) which would sustainably run such courses, and come up with a certification of trainers to ensure the quality of trainings. An international mission has started to firm up the TSP concept and pre-select potential TSPs together with SBGFC, KfW and InWEnt.
For the first two weeks of November, GTZ and InWent, in partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) will be implementing a Training of Trainers (ToT) on Credit Risk Management. For more information and registration details, please click here.
Trade Policy and Promotion Project
Updates on Trade in Services
An Executive Briefing on Trade in Transport Services will be held on November 6 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong City, with participants from the Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC), Heads of Agencies, and the Trade in Services Group on Transport Services (TSGTS). Meanwhile a Stakeholder Consultation on Air Services organized by the DOTC, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the Air Transportation Office, and the Center for Research and Communications (CRC) Foundation, will be held on November 13 at the Hyatt Hotel, Roxas Blvd.
The CD Training Sourcebook on Trade in Services (focus on Health and Transport Services) is now available for distribution. For copies, please send an e-mail to angela.v...@gtz.de.
Updates on Trade in Aquaculture
The First Western Visayas Bangus Congress is currently on-going at the Amigo Terrace Hotel, Iznart, Iloilo City. This event highlights how the stakeholders ensure the production of safe and quality products (fry, feeds, milkfish as raw materials, value-added). This activity includes talks on the status of the milkfish industry, current local marketing practices, foreign and local market demand and requirements and cost of doing business in the Visayas for milkfish. Product presentations, drafting resolutions for government action, market encounter and exhibits that showcase the diversified products produced in the region are also features of this Congress.
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.
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GTZ spotlight 2006: KNOWLEDGE POWERS DEVELOPMENT - sharing experience, shaping the future
http://www.gtz.de/spotlight http://www.gtz.de/jahresthema
SMEDSEP
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