JAKARTA (Joint Press Release): Being more vulnerable to external shocks, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia have been finding it difficult to sustain operations due to the global crisis. To further assist SMEs to be more productive, competitive and sustainable, the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration will organize an impact assessment workshop on Tuesday, 11 January, at the Tripartite Room, Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.

The workshop is conducted to mark the culmination of a series of enterprise trainings on Workplace Cooperation conducted in five pilot small medium enterprises (SMEs) The workshop will be opened by Mr Abdul Wahab Bangkona, Director General of Training and Productivity, Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, and Mr Peter van Rooij, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia.

The workshop is aimed to asses the progress of the implementation of the workplace cooperation in the pilot enterprises and to provide the opportunity to participating enterprises to share good practices, lessons learned and constraints for future effective development of workplace cooperation. This workshop is also aimed to provide recommendations for the successful implementation of workplace cooperation that will, in turn, boost the productivity, strengthen employee-management cooperation and improve enterprise competitiveness.

Targeted to SMEs with 50 – 200 workers from various sectors, the five pilot enterprises included PT Tjokro Bersaudara, PT Trijaya Teknik, PT Lestari Dini Tunggul, PT Inprintama Asri and PT Tesena Inovindo. Pilot enterprises have witnessed increased productivity, better working conditions and improved communication between management and workers. The enterprises also managed to reduce the number of reworked and rejected products.

These series of workplace cooperation trainings had been conducted by the ILO through its Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises project (SCORE) and the Directorate of Productivity and Employment, Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, from October to December 2010. The trainings, consisted of a two-day comprehensive workshop, were conducted in October 2010 and were followed by three site visits to each enterprise in November and December 2010. The trainings focused on the first of the five modules of the SCORE programme covering issues on workplace cooperation, quality management, productivity and cleaner production, human resources management and occupational safety and health.

Launched in July 2010, the ILO’s SCORE programme is designed to help SMEs in Indonesia to boost quality and productivity, improve working conditions, reduce environmental footprints and strengthen collaboration and communication between employers and workers. It helps enterprises to be more competitive in global market, thereby creating jobs. Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the SCORE programme is supported by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo), national trade union confederations and the Dharma Bhakti Astra Foundation.

Indonesia has been chosen as one of the seven countries besides India, China, South Africa, Ghana, Viet Nam, and Colombia to implement the SCORE programme. More than 60 per cent of the Indonesian workforces are employed in SMEs. Thus, the key to sustainable economic development leading to effective poverty reduction of the country lies in successful, competitive SMEs.

For further information please contact:

Mr Januar Rustandie
National Programme Manager of SCORE
Tel.: +6221 391 3112 ext. 150
Email

Ms Gita Lingga
Media Officer
Tel.: +6221 3913112 ext. 115
Mobile: +62815 884 5833
Email