Tomoko Nishimoto, Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, ILO and Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director, Hindustan Tin Works Ltd; President, All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE) and President, FICCI Confederation of MSME, today signed the Phase II of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in establishing a 'National Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India'.
The objective of the MoU is to draw a framework for coordination and cooperation between the ILO and AIOE / FICCI that will result in phase-wise capacity building of the 'Centre' in the national coordination of SCORE training services in India.
This MoU sets forth the detailed goals and objectives agreed to by the two organisations for collaboration during Phase I of SCORE institutionalization, and the terms and conditions under which they will cooperate to achieve these goals and objectives.
At the MoU signing function, Sanjay Bhatia said that the SCORE programme, presently under implementation is engaging the attention of enterprises as a toll to enterprise development. However, the programme is facing stiff competition from highly subsidized similar kind of training programmes offered by the Government. Therefore, it is taking time and energy to build the brand image of SCORE. Channelizing resources in the area of promotion and marketing is therefore important to establish its relevance and credibility.
Bhatia said that the partnership bringing the industry body and a specialized international agency together is expected to contribute to holistic development of the SMEs in India from the perspective of skill development, employees' relation and better business efficiency.
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Nishimoto said it was important to recognize that SMEs are a vital part of any industry and need to be nurtured. Also, it was imperative to understand that SMEs cannot sustain themselves and have to be integrated into the supply chain to harness their true potential.
She added that SMEs need the support in terms of policy and other respect as they do not have the requisite resources to achieve economies of scale.
She expressed the hope that greater synergies would develop between the two institutions to complement the Government of India's and industry's efforts towards the growth and development of the MSMEs in India and make a small contribution to 'Make in India' as well as 'Skill India' initiatives of the Government.
Panudda Boonpala, Director, Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country Office for India, said that FICCI is the national coordinating agency of SCORE. ILO and FICCI look forward to mobilizing resources for promoting SMEs in India.
She added that the programme aims to enhance the productivity, competitiveness and quality of the sector as it is one of the largest employment generators for India and also contributes significantly to the country's GDP.
Thoralf Stenvold, Counsellor, Head of Political Affairs, Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi, stated that without appreciating the efforts of workers any economy would fail. Corporates were now engaging with SCORE programme and have started recognizing the value and potential of the programme.
"The need is to scale up the programme and in the second phase, hopefully, SCORE would work well and develop exponentially," he added.
Daniel Ziegerer, Director of Cooperation and Counsellor Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Embassy of Switzerland, Climate Change and Development, said that the Phase II of the programme would focus on transition. In Phase I, it took longer for the programme to pick up but in Phase II, it is expected that substantial results would be achieved in a short span of time.
B.P. Pant, Adviser, FICCI, said that although there are many other programmes running in the country but SCORE has its salient features which sets it apart from other programmes. For instance, ownership in the programme is of the enterprise and not the trainer's; the progress is quantifiable and can be monitored and measured at regular periods; and during the training all individuals are treated at par which inculcates the feeling of 'we' and gives out a positive impact.
