Ms. Beatrice Maser Mallor, Ambassador and Delegate of the Swiss Government for Trade Agreements – State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) – visited Swisscontact on 6 May 2009. She was accompanied by Mr. Jurg Schnieder from Seco and Ms. Sonja Huerlimann from the Swiss Embassy. Discussions focused on future activities in the context of SECO having Indonesia as a priority country for cooperation.
Internal staff development has been identified as a key area of focus for 2009 to keep up with international good practices in terms of project design, implementation, and monitoring and impact measurement. Accordingly, Swisscontact Indonesia has designed a series of Internal Capacity Building Workshops for its core staff in 2009 and the first workshop was held on 5 th and 6th March in Jakarta. This two-day workshop, with 29 participants, focused on operationalizing the Private Sector Development Strategy of Swisscontact. The topics ranged from the conceptual framework and operational issues of the M4P (Making Markets Work for the Poor) approach, monitoring and concepts for impact measurement, understanding the LFA, to developing an internal documentation system for sector reports and intervention designs.
In 2005, cocoa commodity in Flores suffered greatly due to a pest attack, which reduced 70% of its product capacity; this major loss would have been prevented if farmers were well informed on managing cocoa plantation. Seasonal calendar has been found to effectively help farmers design appropriate steps relating to product improvement of cocoa commodity. The Farmer Association of Wolosoko, Ende, Nusa Tenggara Timur has managed to design a cocoa seasonal calendar during the ‘Favorable Planting Methods’ training, held by LED NTT (Local Economic Development – Nusa Tenggara Timur Project) Swisscontact on 16th February to 20th February 2009. Seventy farmers participated and seven trainers from different skills background facilitated the training. The topics discussed in the training were on pests and diseases, pruning, fertilization, harvesting, sanitation - collectively known as P3S - clone screening, various cultivation methods, seedling, seeds management and quality standard of wet seeds. LED NTT Project aims to improve the performance of three economic sectors (cashew, cocoa, seaweed) in selected districts of NTT (East Flores, Sikka, Ende and Alor). Collaboration with local governments on improving the business environment in the district will enhance business registration hence the project will indirectly contribute to increased government income. Details of project click here
Realizing the importance of strengthening the market by partnering with a reliable business partner, SMEP (Small Medium Enterprise Promotion) Project, funded by SDC, facilitated a business linkage between garment cluster of Cipulir, South Jakarta and PT. Bali Nirwana Garment (PT. BNG) - an apparel manufacturing export company. Contract will be given from PT BNG to Garment Producers in Cipulir to produce high quality denim. Therefore, it is necessary to train employees on skills development.
On February 16 2009, PT BNG HRD Manager, Ms Meaty, conducted a one-day assessment of an ongoing training of 25 employees in the regency of Karawang. The training focused on Quality Standard Sewing Skills held in Jakarta and Karawang. SMEP Project of Swisscontact Indonesia aims to increase competitiveness of garment cluster in South Jakarta. One of the innovative ways is establishing a promotional website, www.garmentindo.com , with support from IT students of Binus University, Jakarta. Details of SMEP project please click here
Aceh-Nias based projects of SPAN (Swiss Project for Business Recovery in Aceh and North Sumatra) and MTU (Mobile Training Units) participated the ‘CFAN 4: Celebration of Humanity’, on 13 – 14 February 2009, in Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC). CFAN 4 marked the final chapter of CFAN (Coordination Forum for Aceh and Nias) and its contribution to the large-scale reconstruction in Aceh and Nias. CFAN 4 presents a crucial opportunity to gather reconstruction partners once more and to recognize the works completed by the recovery players thus far. The forum also offers the appropriate venue to harness the wealth of knowledge and expertise in Aceh and Nias and compile the lessons learned in order to establish a lasting legacy to the recovery efforts. Lastly, CFAN 4 provides a forum to offer recommendations for the continuation of coordination post-BRR.
During this 2-days event, SPAN booth displayed various project information and achievements until the end of 2008 as well as beneficiaries’ testimonials. The SPAN Project assistance has reached 562 Micro Enterprises, 220 Small Enterprises and 33 Medium Enterprises. Through its assistance, 3.453 jobs have been sustained, 1.341 new jobs have been created, as well as profits of the supported enterprises increased, hence wages increased and job satisfaction of workers improved. MTU has improved the quality of vocational skills training, facilitated access to training and enhanced job placement. This mobile training has successfully trained 28 instructors and technicians from Aceh in eleven training modules, and enabled its instructors to successfully train 5,907 participants. MTU also facilitated internships for 945 MTU graduates. For more information of the SPAN project, please click www.span.or.id
On the first day of the event, Mr. Bernardino Regazzoni HE Ambassador of Swiss visited the booth accompanied by Swisscontact’s Country Program Director Mr. Peter Bissegger. Swisscontact Indonesia received a special appreciation from Mr. Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of the Repulblic of Indonesia, for taking part in the global partnership for rebuilding Aceh-Nias and also sharing the lessons learned on 24 January 2008.
The concept of ‘Public Value-Management in Development Cooperation’ was introduced by two researchers, Manuel Rothe and Urs Jaeger, from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland - Center for Leadership and Values in Society. Swisscontact facilitated the research by testing the methodology in the WiSATA Project in Labuan Bajo, Flores for three weeks. The preliminary case study was presented in front of staff and project managers of Swisscontact Indonesia, on 9th February 2009, followed by discussions. The process traces how poverty is affected by a development intervention and provides a structured qualitative process for evaluating the economic, social, aesthetical and ethical aspects of the intervention.
Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) is a program financed by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and supports medium sized enterprises from emerging markets and markets in transition as well as Swiss and European importers. Facilitated by Swisscontact, SIPO conducted a mission to Indonesia to design a potential project on timber products development.
In order to get a broad knowledge on Indonesian wood industries and business, Mr. Boyko Doytchinov, Project Manager, Head of Programme Technical Products of SIPPO, visited Solo, Semarang and Jepara in Central Java in January 2009 when he met timber entrepreneurs, a wood related training centre, and timber processing equipment suppliers.
Small, Medium-sized Enterprises/SME have become a new focus for Indonesia’s TV stations program. This sector is not only seen as a potential audience market but also as a catalyst to improve the country’s business and economic life. What is the story behind these programs? How far does TV rating and share influence the management’s decision to produce such program in the first place? Have SME TV programs created more job employment? To address those queries, Swisscontact initiated a workshop on SME TV Programs between Ratings, Sponsors & its Social Roles, at Ambhara Hotel on 18 of December 2008. The workshop invited 4 keynote speakers: Helmi Azahari (Producer of ’Kisi-Kisi’ Program in INDOSIAR), Ichwan Murni (Corporate & Govt. Relation Supervisor of TRANS TV), Budi Darmawan (Senior Manager Public Relation of SCTV); and Andini Wijendaru (Executive Public Relation of AGB Nielsen Media Research); moderated by Rita Maria from JRI Research. This event was attended by TV broadcasters, entrepreneurs, ad-agencies, and SME- focused advertisers.
On November 6th 2008, Alliance of Independence Journalists Yogyakarta (AJI Yogyakarta), supported by Swisscontact Indonesia, held a discussion with regards to a book titled “Reporting Small Business, a Guide for Print Radio and TV Journalists”. Forty participants representing the media, local government, NGOs, BDS, students, scholars, and small business enterprise (SME) associations attended the event. “There are few books that talks about journalism and even SME, but now we have a good book which provide both perspective on the media and small businesses. This is the reason why participants were very enthusiastic,” said Bambang Muryanto, head of AJI Yogyakarta. The book, launched in mid 2008 by AJI Jakarta, answers the skills deficiency possessed by Indonesian journalists in covering issues facing small businesses.
Swisscontact Indonesia organized a three day training program on value chain development from 20 to 22 of October 2008. All together, 25 staff members of Swisscontact, Mercy Corps and PUPUK Bandung participated in the training which was facilitated by GB Banjara, and Ujjwal Pokhrel freelance consultants on value chain development. In the training, participants were provided with concepts and skills on value chain mapping, analysis and upgrading strategies through presentations and case studies. Participants , in groups, worked on the Tofu, Tempe and denim VCs for Jakarta, Cocoa for Flores and rice value chain for Aceh province.
The Minister of disadvantaged areas of the Republic of Indonesia (PDT), Ir. H. A Helmy Faisal Zaini visited one site of the Peningkatan Ekonomi Kakao Aceh (PEKA) project, sub-project Aceh-EDFF in the district of Pidie Jaya on Thursday, the 9th of June, 2011. Hosted by the Regent and Vice Regent of Pidie Jaya, the Minister […]
Swisscontact Asia Report 2010 provides an overview of Swisscontact’s activties and projects under the two Regional Offices in South Asia and South East Asia based in Dhaka and Jakarta respectively. The pdf version of the publication can be found here.
Swisscontact, through its project Peningkatan Ekonomi Kakao Aceh (Improvement of the Aceh Cocoa Economy), a sub project of the Aceh Economic Development Financing Facility (EDFF), has successfully organized the 1st cocoa conference in Aceh. The Aceh Cocoa Conference (ACC) was specifically held to discuss the cocoa commodity in Aceh. The event, which took place in […]