20 December 2021, Bangkok (ILO News) – In Asia and the Pacific, there is an increasing need to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that have been hit hard by the economic challenges of COVID-19. To address their needs and ensure that impactful services are being delivered online, the ILO organized two digital workshops to enhance online facilitation skills of partners.

The two workshops took place on December 1 and 7 2021, and were joined by 64 participants from business development service (BDS) providers, employers’ organizations, business associations, development agencies and non-profit organizations in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Participants learned practical skills to facilitate interactive trainings using digital meeting platforms and tools. The workshops also introduced the ILO’s MSME COVID-19 Resilience training tools, which adopt an Activity-Based Learning (ABL) methodology in design, using online platforms such as Zoom, Teams or Google Meet.

As a culmination of the workshops, participants worked collaboratively in small groups on activity design. The interactive session focused on participants utilizing the tools they have learned about online facilitation during the session to combat potential challenges they may face when organizing trainings for MSMEs in a digital space.

In 2022, the three ILO projects that collaborated to organize the workshop; the Rebuilding Better: Fostering Business Resilience Post-COVID-19 Project, the Supporting the Resilience of Lao MSMEs in Response to COVID-19 Project, and the Supporting Cambodian MSMEs to Build Resilience for post-COVID-19 Project, aim to engage participating organizations to support MSMEs with training and advisory services in order to sustain, adapt and further develop their businesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

To learn more about the ILO’s support on COVID-19 Business Resilience for MSMEs in Asia Pacific, more information and materials are available at ILO Peer Learning Hub.