For four months, from March 2013 to June 2013, sequa and Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, under the framework of the SMART Myanmar project, have conducted various individual interviews and staff consultations for an organizational diagnosis (OD) of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), a business membership organization (BMO) which is a local partner-organization for the project.
The audit is aimed at analyzing the basic and current situation of UMFCCI’s services and capabilities, its present way of working, the perception within the organisation, as well as at identifying new work activities by proposing recommendations. Since the SMART Myanmar project involves building capacity and increasing skills and knowledge in local partner-organisations and facilitating the development of marketing and export strategies for the garment sector, the OD is necessary to have a clear understanding of UMFCCI’s current operations. Key issues such as service priority, management style, departmental segmentation and budget allocation are crucial in the OD work in order to further identify the methodology needed to implement relevant and successful capacity building programs.
The aspects of the audit included firstly “Board Leadership” and its responsibilities and structure as well as its involvement in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Secondly, “Quality Management” has been addressed with regard to tools and certification. Other critical topics included “Strategy and Planning” tools, stakeholder engagement and organisational structure; “Personnel” responsibilities, qualification and performance levels; “Communication/ Knowledge” focusing on press work and advertisement; “Clients and Membership” analysing client and member (database) management and membership satisfaction; “Interest Representation” in dealing with contacts, networking and lobbying; “Services” for attractiveness and survival of the BMO and finally, “Finance and Accounting”, for financial management and issues on reliance on donors. The audit examined all of these important key issues for UMFCCI and identified specific and precise aspects to work on.
All in all, UMFCCI is in the right position to implement capacity building programs since deficits found are mostly due to lack of formal infrastructures, methods and instruments. The Board leadership and staff are highly motivated and have a drive to move on. Also, UMFCCI’s more than 26,000 members were covered and the financial situation of the BMO appears to be stable.
Recommendations and suggestions for future capacity building for UMFCCI have been compiled on the basis of these results. The audit proposes a bench of methodologies to improve the BMO’s work, for example, the implementation of a Client Relationship Management system (CRM) to allow a better use of membership data and a Business Mentoring Program (BMP) with regard to Sustainable Consumption Production (SCP). Also, BMO staff training and coaching programmes, which have an impact on the success of UMFCCI, need to be conducted together with business planning, business diagnostics and occupational health and safety for factory workers. The BMO staff needs also to improve their skills on advocacy and marketing as well as on e-commerce to ensure an improvement of organisation development and communication. These training needs and programs will be provided for and undertaken by SMART Myanmar and its partners.
The recommendations of the audit are seen as ideas for future capacity building that need to be discussed with all project partners involved. The BMO audit conducted by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce for the SMART Myanmar project, led by sequa gGmbH, represents an important and helpful step towards reaching the goal of the overall project, namely, the sustainable development in Myanmar, in general, and the promotion of “made in Myanmar” garments as well as to increase the international competitiveness of SMEs in the garment sector, in particular.
