SIKAP: Online COVID-19 Business Recovery Hub for MSMEs

 

COVID-19 (or coronavirus disease 2019)—officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020—has rapidly spread around the world, affecting more than 180 territories, one of which is the Philippines.

Recognizing that the Philippines was under state of calamity due to a public health emergency, the Philippine government implemented the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the Luzon Region on 16 March 2020 to curb the spread of the respiratory virus in the country. Initially identified as a health crisis, COVID-19 has shown its socio-economic impacts as the weeks under ECQ progressed. Economic shocks were more evident in the instances of business closures, worker displacement, and interrupted supply chains.

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have directly felt the economic impacts. MSMEs—which form 99.6% of registered establishments in the country and generate 62.6% of the country’s total employment—is one of the country’s most vulnerable sectors. Aside from being at risk to natural and human-induced hazards, they now face the unintended consequences of COVID-19 measures. Enterprise owners face the challenges of maintaining their financial resources, sustaining their workforce, and managing the production of goods and delivery of services.

Understanding the need to support these enterprises in navigating through post-pandemic scenarios that might emerge, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with the support of the Connecting Business initiative (CBi), launched SIKAP or Synergizing Recovery Initiatives, Knowledge, and Adaptation Practices for MSMEs.

SIKAP is a unified online business recovery hub that helps micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) bounce forward to the “next normal.”  In order to respond to the economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, SIKAP aims not only to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to the information gap on how MSMEs can navigate through uncertainties but also to help them face current and future challenges through strength and resilience.

Visit SIKAP now:

In collaboration with national government agencies, PDRF works toward awareness raising and the implementation of DRRM-related programs and policies specifically for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.

Webinars

eForums
2020 National MSME Resilience e-Forum: Business Continuity Towards the “New Normal”

July 16, 2020, Thursday | 3:00 p.m.
Day 3: Supporting Resilience Initiatives through Policy and Finance – Register

2020 National MSME Resilience e-Forum: Business Continuity Towards the “New Normal”

July 15, 2020, Wednesday | 3:00 p.m.
Day 2: Capacity Building as Key to Ensuring Pandemic Productivity – Register

2020 National MSME Resilience e-Forum: Business Continuity Towards the “New Normal”

July 14, 2020, Tuesday | 3:00 p.m.
Day 1: Building Resilient MSMEs through Data and Communication – Register

eForum Series Episode 8: Plugging the Bleeding: Quick Wins and Long-Term Plans

May 20, 2020, Wednesday | 3:00 p.m.
Episode 8 – Register

eForum: Institutionalizing Business and Service Continuity Plans: Whole of Society Approach

May 13, 2020, Wednesday I 3:00 p.m.
Episode 7 – Recording

eForum: Preserving Jobs: Reshaping the Future of Work and the Talent Pool

May 6, 2020 I 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Episode 06 – Recording

eForum on Technology and Innovation: Crisis-Proofing Businesses

April 29, 2020 I 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Episode 05 – Recording

eForum on Market Adjustments and Sustainability: Where do We Sell from Here?

April 22, 2020 I 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Episode 04 – Recording

eForum on Local and Global Supply Chains: Quick Assessment and Ways Forward

April 15, 2020 I 3: 00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Episode 03 – Recording

eForum on MSME COVID-19 Funding: Roles of Government & Private Sector

April 8, 2020 I 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Episode 02 – Recording

eforum: Stakeholders Speak: How COVID has affected movement of goods and people | #ResilienceandRecoveryPH: An eFora Series

April 1, 2020 | 3:00-4:30 PM
Episode 01 – Recording

External Links
MSME Value Chain Rapid Response Survey

Issue No. 1 | Source: UNDP Philippines

Business Resilience in the Face of COVID-19

UNDRR Asia Pacific COVID-19 Brief | 14 May, 2020

COVID-19 Small Business Continuity and Recovery Planning Toolkit
Source: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for Asia and Pacific

Guidelines

MSME Guide to Disaster Resilience

The MSME Guide to Disaster Resilience serves as a reference material for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to have an understanding of the basic concepts of disaster risk reduction and management, and business continuity practices. The guide also includes sample toolkits and exercises which can help MSMEs develop their own emergency preparedness and business continuity plans.

The MSME Guidebook contains four (4) major components:

Chapter 1: Why the Need to Prepare? The Importance of Disaster Preparedness for Small Businesses

Chapter 2: Introduction to the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Law: The Philippine DRRM System


Chapter 3: Preparing Your Business


Chapter 4: Helping Businesses Recover

[Access Here]

Enterprise Pandemic Preparedness Checklist

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which form 99.6% registered establishments and contribute 62.6% to the labor force in the Philippines, have directly felt the economic impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Let’s do an enterprise pandemic preparedness check! If you have an enterprise currently affected by COVID-19, here are some business continuity tips to keep in mind:

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Programs

PDRF’s Business Continuity Program focuses on providing capacity-building interventions aimed at developing knowledge on business and service continuity management. The program targets Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) clients that form the supply chain of our corporate members and partner organizations. The overarching goal is to build resilient economic lifeline supply chains and fence line communities in order to ensure their ability to continue the delivery of services and products, and to establish their capacity to immediately recover from disasters.

For more information, you may reach the unit through pdrfcentral@pdrf.org.ph.

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