SAI Pilots ESMS Handbook & Toolkit for IFC in Serbia

In Serbia, IFC staff and its selected local consultants were joined by SAI: Jane Hwang, Director of Corporate Programs & Training; Craig Moss, Executive Advisor, Corporate Programs & Training; and Yogendra Chaudhry, SAI Environmental Expert and Lead Trainer.

On May 28, SAI and IFC HQ staff from US and France led a TOT (train the trainer) for IFC regional staff and consultants from Serbia, Macedonia and Ukraine. The purpose was for IFC staff and consultant to understand the hands-on use of the Handbook and Toolkit building the capacity of companies to measure and improve. On May 29-30, the team visited the Vino Zupa plant, an IFC investee company in Kapaonik. The TOT and plant visits also provided opportunities to elicit feedback on ways to improve the Handbook and Toolkit.

"The ESMS toolkit training and pilot implementation has been a good learning experience," said Mr. Chaudhry. "This was a perfect opportunity for SAI to test run the utility of the handbook. The local consultants and the IFC experts were a great team to work with."

"As part of the program, specific areas were identified and targeted for improvement," said Mr. Moss."An improvement plan will take place in the next month to help them prioritize which risks to address."

SAI extends it thanks to Vino Zupa for being the first to volunteer for this field visit, and for their transparency and commitment throughout the process. Next, SAI and IFC expect to extend the pilot to Peru and to develop 14 more editions for other sectors.

View photos from the training on SAI's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/socialaccountabilityinternational