MDG-F 2067
UN Joint Program “Harnessing Sustainable Linkages for SME’s in Turkey’s Textile Sector”
Inception Report
Version HistoryVersion No / Description / Date
IR.V1 / Produced by JP Manager / Feb 2011
IR.V2 / Cleared by the JP Team / Mar 2011
IR.V3 / Cleared by the JP Committee / Mar 2011
IR.V4 / Cleared by the National Steering Committee / Mar 2011
MDG-F 2067 is a UN Joint Programme, implemented in Turkey by United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and International Labour Organisation in cooperation with General Secretariat of Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Associations.
Cover Page
Contents
Executive Summary 1
Introduction and Context 4
The Global Textile and Apparel Industry 4
The National Textile and Apparel Industry 4
Methodology and Approach 6
JP-specific Implementation Strategies 6
Improving skills and capabilities to collaborate (Outcome 1) 6
An Integrated Approach for CSR Enhancement (Outcome 2) 7
Sustainability Strategy 8
An Equal Emphasis on Skills and Capabilities 8
Scalability of the Intervention 9
Inclusiveness and Participation 9
Cooperation with other Projects and Programmes 9
Communication and Outreach 10
Description of JP Activities 11
Outcome 1 12
Output 1.1 12
Output 1.2 13
Output 1.3 15
Output 1.4 16
Outcome 2 18
Output 2.1 18
Output 2.2 20
Output 2.3 22
Output 2.4 22
Conclusions and Recommendations 24
Conclusions 24
Recommendations 24
Annex 1: Inceptıon Phase 1
Annex 2: JP Management and Coordınatıon 13
Annex 3: JP Monitoring Framework 15
Annex 4: Budget & Work Plan 19
Annex 5: Risk Assessment Matrix 20
Annex 6: Projects and Programmes for Cooperation 23
Annex 7: Communication Matrix 25
Annex 8: FORMATION of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) 27
List of Tables
Table 1: Three Levels of CSR Enhancement 8
Table 2: Stakeholders 9
Table 3: JP Outcome 1, at a snapshot 12
Table 4: JP Output 1.1, at a snapshot 12
Table 5: JP Output 1.2, at a snapshot 13
Table 6: JP Output 1.3, at a snapshot 16
Table 7: JP Output 1.4, at a snapshot 16
Table 8: JP Outcome 2, at a snapshot 18
Table 9: JP Output 2.1, at a snapshot 19
Table 10: Anticipated scope of Output 2.1 and division of labor for its generation 19
Table 11: JP Output 2.2, at a snapshot 21
Table 12: JP Output 2.3, at a snapshot 22
Table 13: JP Output 2.4, at a snapshot 23
Acronyms
ABIGEM / EU Turkey Business Development CentreCSR / Corporate Social Responsibility
DİSK-TEKSTİL / Trade Union of Textile Workers
DOGAKA / East Mediterranean Development Agency
FKA / Fırat Development Agency
GDP / Gross Domestic Product
İGEME / Turkish Export Promotion Agency
İKA / İpekyolu Development Agency
ILO / International Labour Organization
ITKIB / General Secretariat of Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Associations
JP / Joint Programme
JPM / Joint Programme Manager
KOSGEB / Presidency for SME Development and Support
KSSD / Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey
MDG / Millennium Development Goals
MoIT / Ministry of Industry and Trade
MoLLS / Ministry of Labour and Social Security
NSC / National Steering Committee
Öz İplik-İş / Trade Union for Workers of Woven, String, Knitting and Clothing Industries
PMC / Programme Management Committee
RC / Resident Coordinator
SME / Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises
SPO / Undersecretariat of State Planning Organization
T/A / Textile and Apparel
TEKSİF / Textile, Knitting and Clothing Workers Union of Turkey
TÜTSİS / Turkish Textile Employers Association
UFT / Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade
UN / United Nations
UNDP / United Nations Development Programme
UNIDO / United Nations Industrial Development Organization
VCMP / Value Chain Management Platform
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Executive Summary
MDG-F 2067: “Harnessing Sustainable Linkages for the SMEs in Turkey’s Textile Sector” is a joint programme (hereinafter “the JP”) of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and International Labour Organization (ILO), implemented by the General Secretariat of Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Associations (ITKIB).
The JP aims to contribute to the progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (particularly MDG1, MDG3, MDG7, and MDG8) by means of increasing networking and collaboration among textile and apparel manufacturers (Outcome 1), and integrating sustainable development, CSR principles and gender equality into the business processes and practices in the textile and apparel industry (Outcome 2).
The complementarities between the Government’s textile and apparel strategy and the JP’s outcomes are the strongest assurance of sustainable impact of the JP.
The JP is a timely intervention to help Government of Turkey operationalise the National Textile Strategy (2009), which envisages and supports creation of regional clusters that specialize on different nodes (design, R&D, manufacturing etc.) of the textile and apparel value chain. The Government of Turkey has already introduced certain measures (e.g. incentives such as tax cuts, social security premium etc.) to implement this strategy; however the long-term sustainability and success of the strategy hinge heavily on the level of networking and collaborating between the various nodes of value chains, scattered across the country, and the level of skills and capabilities of the local manufacturers in terms of adopting economically sustainable, and socially and environmentally responsible business practices. As such, the key success factors of Government’s strategy coincide nicely with the two outcomes, which the JP is set to achieve. The complementarities between the Government’s strategy and the JP’s outcomes are the strongest assurance of sustainable impact of the JP.
The JP will not only create and/or improve skills, but also make the target groups capable of using their new and/or improved skills
The strategy of the JP is geared towards creating skills (i.e. the learned capacity to carry out certain functions) and improving competencies (i.e. the ability to use learned capacity) to achieve its ambitious, yet achievable, outcomes. In other words; the JP not only aims at creating and/or improving the skills of the T/A industry, but also includes measures (i.e. development of tools, replicable models) which will make the T/A industry capable of using their new or improved skills in a sustainable manner.
Against this background, the inception phase of the JP has been utilized to confirm the ongoing relevance of the design of the JP with the national/local context, and to test viability and feasibility of modifications that would further enhance the expected impact of the JP.
Better alignment of inter-agency activities help mitigate emerging risks and ensure increased efficiency and effectiveness.
An important finding of the inception phase concerns an emerging risk associated with past and ongoing work on “clustering” in Turkey. Clustering approach is an important element of the JP, especially with respect to achievement of Outcome 1, having spill-over effects on Outcome 2, as well. Some of the previous attempts that supported regional and local clustering initiatives in the target regions did not create the anticipated results, thus it is now harder for the JP revive target groups’ (SMEs’) interest in this highly rewarding approach. UNIDO’s expertise and established role in facilitating cluster development especially in less developed regions, is a strong assurance for the JP. In addition to this UNIDO and UNDP agreed to strengthen the linkages between activities related to cluster development and SME support scheme, envisaged under the JP.
The JP established linkages with development agencies, creating a strong regional base for operations.
The Development Agencies, which were “in-the-make” during the preparation of the JP, have been established and have become important agents of regional economic development. The JP realizes the emerging yet rapidly expanding roles of development agencies in matters concerning regional development and hence incorporates them as regional institutions for collaboration into the JP’s overall work programme.
Synergetic opportunities between the JP and ongoing projects and programmes of partaking UN Agencies have been identified and incorporated into the JP’s work plan.
Another achievement of the inception phase was the better alignment of the JP activities that require inputs from the partaking UN Agencies. The details of such revisions/modifications to the JP activities are addressed in detail in the IR. Additionally, synergies between the JP and ongoing projects of the involved UN Agencies have been established. The ongoing partnership between UNDP/IBM Corporate Service Corps Program in Turkey has been instrumental in providing expert opinion for deployment of the Value Chain Management Platform (VCMP). Linkages have also been established between the JP and Promoting Registered Employment in Southeast Anatolia Project (UNDP, ILO and ITKIB). Further examples of linkages established with other projects and programmes are elaborated in detail in the inception report. It also became evident that had the JP had not existed, exploitation of such synergies would have been harder.
In summary, the work carried out during the inception phase confirmed that the strategic focus of the JP remains highly relevant to the national context as well as to the MDG Achievement Fund. The strategy of the JP contributes to the overarching national policies and programmes, and is owned by the national authorities. Secondly, the inception phase also demonstrated that relocation of the sub-national gravity centre of the JP from Kahramanmaras would contribute to both aid effectiveness and prospects for greater impact. Thirdly, areas where further efficiency gains are possible through minor (activity-level) operational and budgetary revisions have been identified and introduced. Such measures include concrete cooperation opportunities with ongoing projects and programmes of the partaking UN Agencies. Fourthly, the inception phase provided the JP partners to assess the risks that may have an effect on the JP, and introduce relevant risk mitigation measures. Finally, the inception phase was utilized to conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis, which revealed additional collaboration opportunities (i.e. development agencies).
The comprehensive yet integrated nature of the JP is not only its biggest challenge, but also its strongest value proposition and assurance for sustained impact.
A notable achievement of the JP during the inception phase was its recognition by the stakeholders and target groups as an innovative intervention. The JP’s intervention modality diffuses MDGs into the daily business practices of the target groups by putting competitiveness, the most appealing notion for SMEs, on the forefront of the intervention. The JP melts information and communication technologies, process innovation, clustering, decent work, environment, competitiveness, institution building, skills development etc. in the same pot. All these different and individually essential elements could have been subjects of individual projects at their own merits. The inception phase demonstrated that comprehensive yet integrated nature of the JP is not only its biggest challenge, but also its strongest value proposition and assurance for sustained impact.
A belated inception report was not called for, yet the expected benefits will justify the delay.
The partaking UN Agencies and ITKIB are aware that the inception phase has taken longer than anticipated. However it is also to be noted that such an extensive analyses, which is expected to justify the delay with the additional value that the JP will create, would not have been possible, had sufficient time not been allocated. The inception phase could have been much shorter; however this would have come at the expense of losing sight of elements that would boost JP’s long-term impact, overlooking the multiplier effects of creating synergetic collaboration opportunities, and last but not the least a problematic implementation period.
The IR has 5 sections; starts with why and where, continues with how and ends with conclusions and recommendations.
The inception report at hand is composed of five sections. The first section introduces the JP and the context, by focusing on the key elements (e.g. strategy, outcomes, outputs etc.) of the JP vis a vis the general context and environment, in which the JP is to be implemented. This section intends to lay the ground for the rest of the report. The second section of the report focuses on methodological issues concerning the implementation and coordination of the JP, forming the background of the third section which elaborates on JP activities. The fourth section concludes the report, and presents recommendations, which will be considered taken with the approval of the report.
The following annexes complement the inception report:
The following annexes complement the inception report:
· Annex 1: Inception Phase
· Annex 2: JP Management and Coordination
· Annex 3: JP Monitoring Framework
· Annex 4: Budget and Work Plan
· Annex 5: Risk Assessment Matrix
· Annex 6: Projects and Programmes for Coordination
· Annex 7: Communication Matrix
· Annex 8: Formation of Technical Advisory Committee
Introduction and Context
The Global Textile and Apparel Industry
The global textile and apparel industry commands a highly sophisticated value chain, consisting of a number of discrete activities, scattered across the World.
The global textile and apparel industry commands a highly sophisticated value chain, consisting of a number of discrete activities, scattered across the World. It is rather difficult to characterize the global TA value chains by a uniformed set of characteristics. On one hand, there are heavily commoditized segments (e.g. basic t-shirts) where cost is by far the most important driver of competitiveness; but on the other hand, there are higher value-added segments (e.g. technical textiles, fashion products etc.), in which the competitiveness is derived not only from cost but also from innovation, R&D etc.
The international trade of clothing and textile products increased significantly over the last two decades.
The abolishment of the international Agreement on Textile and Clothing, introduced a quota-free environment for international trade of textile and apparel products. However, liberalization of international trade in TA industry has always been a highly controversial issue, for both textile and apparel contribute to employment in developing as well as developed countries. Thus there have been temporary total or partial disturbances to the fully liberalized trade of such goods. Despite these disturbances, the international trade of clothing products tripled over the last two decades; whereas that of textile products doubled (Source: WTO).
On the supply side, the most important element that has an impact on the functioning of the T/A industry has been the globalization of the value chain
The significant increases in international trade of textile and clothing products, reaffirms the highly scattered and globalized nature of the T/A value chain. Thus on the supply side the most important element that has an impact on the functioning of the T/A industry has been the globalization of the value chain. It is basically because of this trend that the conventional wisdom said that the manufacturing capacity in the T/A industry always moves to “the East” (or to “the South”, in contemporary international development jargon). That is to say as an economy grows, it will find it harder to sustain low cost production.