Introduction Workshop of ILO STEM Project to Small and Medium Enterprises in Automotive Sector

Objectives

Objective of the workshop is for the ILO Women in STEM Project to introduce the Project, particularly on its soft-skills development component, to SCORE participating automotive SMEs and identify firms or SMEs that are interested to participate in the STEM Project.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that after the workshop:

• participating enterprises have an understanding of the ILO Women in STEM Project;
• interested SMEs are identified.

Background

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has initiated Women in STEM Project (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), which is funded by JP Morgan Global Philanthropy. The program is implemented in ASEAN-3, namely Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand in automotive, IT-BPO and electronic sector respectively. Those sectors are identified as high-growth sectors and present significant projected skills gap but also opportunities for growth.

Technological uptake will change skills requirements in Indonesia’s automotive sector. Facilitating training and ensuring the adoption of STEM-related knowledge and skills to real workplace and industrial issues will support enterprises’ expansion and business growth. The key benefits for enterprises is having strengthened skills among their workers, as well as increased productivity and reduced turnover due to the strengthened skills, which in turn increase the enterprises’ competitiveness. The Women in STEM Project, thus, focuses on demand-oriented skills development coupled with targeted mentorship to increase workforce readiness and reduce skills gap within private firms.

The ILO SCORE Project (Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises) was introduced in Indonesia in 2009 to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their productivity and working conditions, with the primary goal of effective implementation of SCORE Training. The SCORE Project entered its third phase in 2017 and by the end of that year, there are 261 SMEs that have participated in the training and 30 of them are in automotive sector. Each of these enterprises has established an Enterprise Improvement Team (EIT) and has made significant improvements as identified through SCORE indicators.

SCORE and Women in STEM Project has discussed possible collaboration and identify that demand-oriented soft-skills development programme offered by the STEM Project can strengthen women employees’ competencies, including EIT members, which in turn will increase their employability and assist their transition to a higher-level STEM related positions. From the enterprises’ perspective, a strengthened women workforce will further sustain and increase their competitiveness. Identifying this area of collaboration, the ILO in coordination with SMI, will organize an Introduction Workshop to ILO Women in STEM Project.