While the island has long had hardworking non-profit organisations (NPOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which have made strides despite lack of substantial support, the monster hurricanes of 2017 became a make-or-break situation for many on the island. It became overwhelmingly evident in their aftermath, how essential NGOs are to society.
Last weekend, the NPOwer NGO Conference, dubbed “It Takes More Than Two to Tango”, brought together around 150 attendees – representing 65 organisations, in the spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and promoting progress and resiliency.
Held at National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) in Cay Hill, the conference aimed to strengthen and build capacity of St. Maarten’s NPOs, by connecting them to resources within the community, and providing them with concrete tools.
Participants at the day-long event had access to a variety of workshops, ranging from human resource management, to grant writing, financial management, psychological wellbeing, leveraging technology, dealing with legal matters, and marketing. Besides learning from the expertise of speakers, discussion and interaction were highly encouraged, and many experiences, concerns, and new ideas were shared amongst the attendees.
“We have lots of people on St. Maarten with passion and compassion, but we want to see NPOs not just being established, but we want to see them doing well,” said Cassandra Richardson, one of the event’s hosts.
Jose Somers, Founder and former President of 4C Foundation, said that she hopes the tools and inspiration provided at the conference could be taken and realistically implemented, as soon as they are needed. Somers continues her work in NPOs and has been a mentor to new 4C President Sjorensly Valies, also a host at the conference.
Another concrete outcome of the conference, leveraging the network, was the “Twinning Challenge”, a friendly competition. NPOs were invited in advance to partner up for a project, which was pitched to the audience at the conference. Everyone was asked to vote for their favourite project, and total of US $2,250 was awarded to the new, inter-NPO initiatives, courtesy of St. Maarten Development Fund, Be The Change Foundation, and 4C Foundation.
A training programme aimed at volunteer mentors for foster children and vulnerable youth was deemed the winning project, presented by K1 Britannia and Stichting Justitiele Inrichtingen St. Maarten (SJIB); $1,000 was awarded for the programme. A large-scale composting project by Green SXM and Waste2Work was awarded second place, and a sponsorship programme for afterschool activities for underprivileged youngsters, by Foundation Catholic Education and Foundation EGO Onderwijs received third place.
Several government officials and dignitaries, including parliamentarians and department heads, attended and showed support for the initiative. Amongst them was Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt, who delivered the keynote address.
“We are very grateful to all of you that have chosen to sacrifice yourselves, your time, and sometimes even your families in order to serve others that are oftentimes less fortunate,” he said to those in attendance.
“Your efforts and activities are very necessary, as you operate in some critical areas where government oftentimes may lack the know-how or facilities to render the required services to the communities – whether it be in disaster relief, social welfare, education, healthcare or the environment, just to name a few.
“I dare say that no government can adequately provide all the necessary services to its people in today’s world, especially in times of disaster, without the assistance of the NGOs and NPOs.”
Keeping up the momentum between workshops and discussions were charismatic hosts – Alston Lourens, Cassandra Richardson, Sjorensly Valies, Jose Sommers, and Kevin “Suppa Kid” Petrona – a beautiful dance performance by National Institute of the Arts (NIA), live music by members and management of the Youth Orchestra, an energetic drumming performance by Souleymane Camara, and fun raffle prizes.
“It Takes More Than Two to Tango” was made possible – and had an incredible show of support and cooperation – by sponsors, speakers, and volunteers too numerous to mention. The main sponsors were Nationaal Rampenfonds (Dutch Disaster Fund) and NIPA. A unique souvenir, paintings made during one of the workshops hosted by Tess Verheij, was presented to NIPA management as a token of appreciation for making the venue available.
Learn more about St. Maarten’s NPOs and connect, by visiting www.npowersxm.com.
Photo caption: Sjorensly Valies holds up a mic as the crowd sings “Lean on me” at the end of a successful conference.
