SCORE - Sustaining Competitive and Responsible

Enterprises

Quick Facts participate in global supply chains. Through

the SCORE technical cooperation project, the
Countries: Colombia, China, Ghana, Viet
ILO is assisting government agencies, training
Nam, Switzerland
organizations, employers’ organizations,
Final Evaluation: July-November 2012 industry associations and trade unions in
Mode of Evaluation: Independent emerging economies in Africa, Asia and Latin
ILO Administrative responsibility: America to offer SCORE training to
EMP/SEED enterprises.
Technical Area: Enterprise Development SCORE’s development objective is that SMEs
Evaluation Management: Michael Axmann are more sustainable through being cleaner,
Evaluation Team: Christian Bugnion de more productive and competitive and
Moreta (Lead Evaluator), Daniel Pedraza providing more sustainable and decent
Isaza, Hongman Zhang, Lam Ba Nguyen, employment. The project is expected to
Sandra Owusu. achieve the following outcomes:
Project End: March 2013 1. Industry associations can market and
Project Code: GLO/10/52/NAD, coordinate enterprise-upgrading services
to their local members.
Donor: SECO (US$ 4,2 Million), NORAD 2. Service providers can effectively deliver
(US$ 4,2 Million) training and advisory services for
Keywords: Enterprise Development, Work- workplace upgrading on a commercially
place Practices, Productivity, Working sustainable basis.
Conditions 3. Labour inspectorate services work with
mass media to disseminate progressive
Background & Context
workplace practices.

Summary of the project purpose, logic and The project is based on the participation of
structure SMEs to a maximum of five training modules
covering essential aspects (workplace
SCORE is a practical training and workplace cooperation, quality management, clean
improvement project to increase the production, human resources, occupational
productivity of small to medium-sized safety and health). Each module is
enterprises (SMEs) while promoting respect implemented through a combination of
for workers’ rights. The project demonstrates classroom training and on-site enterprise
best international practice in manufacturing coaching with a minimum of three enterprise
and service sectors and helps SMEs to visits undertaken by SCORE service providers.

ILO Evaluation Summaries 1

 interested in the programme. About 43%
Present Situation of the Project of enterprises take at least one more
module after module 1 (the SCORE
The project started in 2009 and has developed
success criterion was set at 30%).
the following:
1. The global SCORE training package Purpose, scope and clients of the
consisting of five training modules evaluation
approved by representatives from unions
The objective of the final independent
and employer organizations. The package
evaluation is to assess the SCORE intervention,
is availale in eight languages and adapted
examine the approach, assess current impact
to several sectors.
and sustainability, and provide
2. A comprehensive training of trainers and
recommendations and lessons learned. The
capacity building programme for
evaluation findings and recommendations will
organizations that want to offer the
be used to inform future project strategy and
training. To ensure quality, the ILO has
operations design.
introduced a trainer certification system
that allows only qualified consultants to The evaluation covers the period from
use the SCORE and training materials. September 2009 to present, looking at the
3. A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) linkages between the various country projects
framework that follows the Donor and the global component to generate findings
Committee for Enterprise Development on the six evaluation criteria for all country
(DCED) standard for results measurement projects and the global components and
including a database to monitor project compare the lessons from other countries’
activities and enterprise impact in real- implementation. A mid-term evaluation was
time. undertaken in March 2011 which will be used
4. The project piloted a public-private as the baseline for appraising progress in
partnership agreement with the Swiss countries where no fieldwork was undertaken
retailer COOP who is currently funding (South Africa, Indonesia, India).
training of its suppliers in China using the
Methodology of evaluation
SCORE training package.
5. The project has built capacity in 19 A mixed methods approach was used for the
institutions (government agencies, industry evaluation. An initial desk review was
associations, training organizations) in undertaken based on available project
seven countries to offer the training documentation and data through the SCORE
programme. papyrus platform and M&E database.
6. 253 trainers (33% women) have been Fieldwork was undertaken in four countries,
trained. These trainers have trained 233 using the following methods:
SMEs representing more than 46.000
workers. Training consists of two days of a) Key informant interviews using semi-
classroom training of two managers and structured interviews with primary stake-
two workers, with typically three follow-up holders and tripartite constituents;
visits of consultants over the course of two b) Enterprise visits including i) enterprise
months. More than 1781 managers and walkthrough ii) Senior management
workers (65% managers / 35% workers; interviews iii) workers interviews in
33% women 67% men) have jointly gender disaggregated groups
participated in classroom training. c) In-depth group discussion with SCORE
7. All enterprises (233) participated in trainers
training on SCORE Module 1: Workplace d) Structured observation
cooperation, which is considered the The evaluation followed a transparent and
mandatory module for enterprises participatory methodology. In each country a

ILO Evaluation Summaries 2

national consultant was recruited that detailed and comprehensive and provides
contributed to contextual understanding of the valuable information to appraise real-time
project, in addition to speaking the local progress. This needs to be matched at field
languages that the international evaluator level by reliable data collection. More effort
doesn’t speak (in China and Vietnam). The and supervision is needed regarding the data
evaluation is carried out according to UNEG collected from the enterprises.
and OECD/DAC quality evaluation standards. Gender is insufficiently addressed in SCORE,
and there is no gender strategy. More efforts
Main Findings & Conclusions are needed to promote gender awareness and
non-discrimination, as well as ensuring gender
Validity of the intervention design and mainstreaming.
relevance There needs to be a much more aggressive
SCORE is not a typical ILO tripartite project – communication and information campaign
there is little involvement of the Ministry of regarding SCORE, not enough is being done
Labour or Trade Unions – but its nature to be to advertise it and publicise it.
a demand-driven product places it more
Progress and Effectiveness
specifically on the employers’ side.
SCORE has clearly achieved some important
More time is needed to specify the product
results in SMEs in all four countries visited.
brand, clients and implementation modalities:
Implementation of 5S, creation of an
up to end 2013 for defining the product and a
Enterprise Improvement Team (EIT) and
clear marketing and communication strategy,
preparation of an Enterprise Improvement
and a second phase over four years with a
Plan (EIP), knowledge development of the
branded product and gradually increasing
workforce, improved productivity and lower
cost-recovery in line with an exit strategy
defect rate, generally better working
accepted by the national partners.
conditions (cleanliness, social aspects) are all
SCORE as a product generally responds to the visible in the participating SMEs visited.
needs and requirements of most of the SMEs However there is not yet a critical mass (e.g.
encountered, but it needs further tailoring and sufficient number of participating enterprises)
grounding on local context and legislation to in each country that could ensure project
be more marketable to SMEs. More demand- sustainability. Different speed of
side contents are needed. implementation across the countries means
The technical approach based on sector that in some countries only module 1 has been
studies that was followed is questionable: rolled out.
some assumptions did not materialize and Module one on workplace collaboration is
many countries are feeling the economic crisis effectively the cornerstone of SCORE and is
in a way that affects the clusters/sectors of the rightly compulsory. In those countries where
SCORE clients. the module is passed down to the workforce
Quality and competency of the trainers is a key level (Colombia, Ghana) there is a major
issue for the success of SCORE but also a change in management/workers relationship.
challenge. There is some loss of motivation This is a direct result of SCORE but the
linked to the slowly implemented certification current qualitative indicators used by SCORE
process for trainers. are not specifically capturing it.

A major effort is being done in providing M&E Effectiveness of the project is generally very
information that follows DCED standards and good as relates to the results of module 1.
contains gender disaggregated information at Overall it varies from country to country
the global, country and enterprise levels. At depending on level of implementation of the
the global level the M&E information is very five modules, sectors and industries concerned,

ILO Evaluation Summaries 3

and the quality/capacity of the trainers, the benefited from the support of a very pro-active
understanding of the national counterparts, donor SECO at the global and country levels.
and the support received from the various
levels within the ILO. The implementation Recommendations & Lessons Learned
strategy should be more country specific in
line with the partnership strategy to increase Main recommendations and follow-up
effectiveness. One potential way forward is to
R.1 The project needs to consolidate before it
multiply the Public-Private Partnerships in
expands. It should use year 2013 for
supply chains where SCORE can address
consolidation in all countries.
second tier enterprises – such as is being done
with the Swiss retailer COOP in China. R.2 SCORE requires a second four years
phase to become gradually sustainable from
Effectiveness of management 2014 until 2017.
arrangements and efficiency R.3 SCORE needs to develop a gender strategy
The human resource structure for the project and mainstream gender in the project.
is very small, both at the Global Component R.4 SCORE has to define the product,
level as well as in the field offices, which branding, partnership and communication
means that resources are quite stretched to strategy for the second phase.
ensure the smooth implementation of such a
Important lessons learned
complex and innovative project. This is a very
positive indication, although human resource GP1. Trainers have in almost all countries
level may be overstretched in a second phase made more enterprise visits than agreed,
and additional resources may be required. showing commitment and responsiveness to
SME needs.
The project had to deal with unforeseen
GP2. Inclusiveness of the tripartite members
constraints and events of various nature
in SCORE training is a good approach.
(covered in the body of the report under each
country section) that caused a slow GP3. The National Tripartite Advisory
implementation of the work plan at the country Committee in project countries is a forum
level and led to an extension of the where SECO has been able to contribute to
implementation period up to the end of 2013 SCORE implementation.
for certain countries. GP4. The SCORE training structure that
combines two-day classroom with practical
Impact orientation and sustainability coaching in the enterprise for each module is a
Impact cannot be seen in such a short period good structure.
of time. The development results of the project
can only be achieved over the long-term. LL1. SCORE is rightly targeting the SMEs
Sustainability is one of the challenges of the with 50 to 250 workers as its target group.
project for the next phase. To consider the LL2. A communication and visibility strategy
three levels of sustainability as defined by the has to be developed from the start of the
project (financial, technical, institutional) project.
requires also a longer time frame, in which a LL3. Results in complex regional projects are
branded product is being marketed to both highly context specific and understanding of
SMEs and service-providers. This is not yet the the context, culture, socio-economic situation,
case and should be one of the foci of the last are key elements of analysis.
year of the project 2013 before a new phase LL4. A case study analysis based on
begins. partnership strategy as an entry point can be
SCORE is a good and useful project that fills a used as an alternative to traditional sector
gap and has great potential. It has further studies.

ILO Evaluation Summaries 4