Vietnam launches courses for workers affected by pandemic, Indonesia introduces classes for SMEs to go digital

Over the past few days, a series of local L&D initiatives have been announced across Indonesia, and Vietnam. These included training courses for workers in Vietnam affected by COVID-19, and online classes for SMEs in Indonesia, as summarised below.

Jump straight to the individual country updates below:

• Vietnam: Short training courses introduced for workers affected by the pandemic
• Indonesia: Online classes launched to help SMEs go digital 

Vietnam: Short training courses introduced for workers affected by the pandemic

A series of short training courses has been introduced in eight cities and provinces across Vietnam, in efforts to help about 1,000 workers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This will be a collaboration between the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Vietnam's General Directorate of Vocational Training, and the relevant departments of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam News reported.  

According to the report, the training courses, which begin in October and will last for two months, will focus on industrial occupations which are more resilient to COVID-19's impact as compared to those in sectors such as hospitality and tourism. These include mechanics, industrial electrics and electronics, plumbing, building electronics, wastewater treatment, and automotive.

Further, it targets workers who are either unemployed or underemployed and at high risk of losing their jobs as a result of the pandemic, in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang City, and the Bắc Ninh, Hà Tĩnh, Ninh Thuận, An Giang, Đồng Nai and Long An provinces.

Since 2017, a series of training programmes for these occupations have been piloted in 11 TVET institutes, as part of the Vietnamese-German 'Reform of TVET in Vietnam' programme.

Indonesia: Online classes launched to help SMEs go digital 

On Monday (5 October) Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology announced a partnership with the Indonesian E-commerce Association (IdEA) to implement online classes for 2,500 SMEs.

These courses will run from 5 October to 12 December 2020, in a push to "boost digital inclusion among small businesses" and upgrade their skillsets amid the pandemic, The Jakarta Post reported. 

Cited in the article, Bima Laga, Chairman of IdEA, noted that participating SMEs could join 60 classes including digital branding, soft skill development, and business financing.

According to Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Johnny G Plate, who was also cited in article, the programme targets SMEs outside of Java, in particular those in the "outermost, frontier and the least developed" regions of the country; as well as those located in Indonesia's five key tourist destinations.

He explained: "We've seen that the successful cases of SME digitalisation mostly occur on Java island. So, we want the same success for SMEs all around the nation. 

"We also want to see those already on the digital platforms upscaling their businesses.

Thus far, he added, about 9.4mn SMEs have moved online, a move towards the government's target of having 10mn SMEs go digital by the end of 2020.

In similar digital news in the country, Minister Johnny on Sunday (4 October) encouraged the Indonesian public to further increase the use of digital technology, as the country moves towards its vision of becoming an advanced digital nation.  

He said: "These big dreams need to be realised through efforts to educate and increase literacy and capacity building of the Indonesian people, especially in the field of information and communication technology."

The Minister also stated that the country is currently entering the era of IR4.0, wherein the disruption of digital technology is "increasingly massive."

"Unlike the previous stage of the industrial revolution, at this stage digital technology and systems such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, are used as tools to assist daily activities."

Thus, in facilitating this move, he outlined the five mandates set in place by President Joko Widodo, namely include:

• #1 Accelerating the expansion of internet access, increase and development of digital infrastructure;
  • #2 Preparing a digital transformation roadmap in strategic sectors including education, health, economy, defence, security and more;
• #3 Accelerating the integration and construction of national data centre;
• #4 Completing the regulation of digital transformation financing and financing schemes; and
• #5 Preparing the needs for human resources or digital talent.

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