Eye on MSME productivity, ILO, FICCI sign pact

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI today took their partnership to the next level today by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to impart training to MSMEs to make them competitive and boost productivity.
This is the second phase of the signing of SCORE Global Programme, wherein national institutes provide training to MSMEs.
In line with the objective of Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE), ILO is entrusted with building capacity of FICCI in three phases to enable the industry body to effectively coordinate and manage SCORE training services.
Each phase will be approximately for a year or more and will be governed by a technical partnership agreement (MoU).

"It's actually time we took our collaboration to next stage. This is the second phase... FICCI is one of the leading chambers of commerce in India... So, as per ILO's tripartite mechanism, we are working with the government, employers and workers," ILO Assistant DG and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Tomoko Nishimoto said.
The MoU was signed by Nishimoto and Sanjay Bhatia, President, All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE) and President, FICCI Confederation of MSMEs.

SCORE is meant to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to train and empower workers and employees and create a win-win situation, Nishimoto said.

"Some MSMEs are having a very difficult environment although they are very much part of the economic growth... Because they don't have the scale, they don't have the competitiveness and sometimes they struggle," she said.
SCORE is a training programme that will empower employers and workers, and increase productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs, she said, adding it will help India's economic growth as well.
SCORE is supported by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the Norway Agency for Development Cooperation. The phase 1 of the global programme covered the period between October 2009 and December 2013. The phase 2 covers January 2014-December 2017.

The MSMEs that have undergone training have reported more than 20 per cent improvement in key industry benchmarks.
SCORE is currently operational in eight countries, including India.