Project Assessments in time of Corona: SIPPO Indonesia successfully facilitated Swiss-based COMO and WTO's ITC to conduct project assessment productively through virtual meetings.
To implement meso-level approach and mandate, SIPPO has been collaborating with four Business Support Organizations (BSOs) since April 2017. With conclusion of the current mandate at the end of 2020, SIPPO Program and donor seek to understand BSOs' perception on the current mandate, while also looking at possible additional onboarding of several BSOs for the next mandate period.
To support this transition, SIPPO program facilitated comprehensive assessments involving both external and internal assessors. COMO consult from Switzerland has been tasked by SECO, SIPPO donor, as external assessor and ITC, a subsidiary of WTO, will be the internal assessor. Both COMO Consult and ITC will evaluate two main areas: 1) Impact of SIPPO interventions to BSOs, as reflected within their organisation learning process, measured by comparing current progression with results of previous assessment conducted by ITC at the beginning of 2017, and 2) aggregating insights and inputs for the improvement of SIPPO's next phase.
Initially planned to be conducted using a combination of virtual meetings and on-site discussion with BSOs, the assessments were eventually conducted using virtual means only as COVID19 Pandemic has made site visits impossible. Understanding that assessments done virtually can be challenging, SIPPO Indonesia country staff and BSOs have endeavored to provide conducive environment for the process. Eventually, by second week of May 2020, SIPPO Indonesia has successfully facilitated 11 virtual meetings involving COMO Consult, ITC and for BSOs. SIPPO would like to extend our appreciation to all BSOs for their constructive participation in the assessments regardless of the surrounding challenges we all face amidst this pandemic