PHILIPSBURG:--- Resources for Community Resilience (R4CR) launched the book titled “The 4-year Journey of St. Maarten’s Social Reconstruction” during the final conference, which was held on Friday, October 25th, in the ballroom of Simpson Bay Resort. The book marks the culmination of the R4CR program and gives a comprehensive overview of the projects implemented, the non-profit organizations responsible for the projects, and the various stakeholders who made an invaluable contribution to the program.
Ms. Jose’ Sommers, R4CR Training and Capacity Building Manager, who was instrumental in producing the book, presented the first copy of the book to the Governor of St. Maarten, His Excellency Ajamu Bailey. Ms. Sommers thanked the Governor for his unrelenting support of the local civil society organizations (CSOs) and reminded him of the inspiring speech he gave last year at the NPOwer conference, where he quoted the African proverb: “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito” to illustrate the impact even the smallest CSO on the island can make in society.
While receiving the book the Governor congratulated R4CR with their results and thanked the CSOs for great job they have done with advancing the social agenda on St Maarten.
Ms. Sommers also acknowledged the contribution of Amelie Tapia and Kevin “Suppa” Petrona who were responsible for the text and the layout of the book respectively.
Each dignitary present received a copy of the book from an R4CR team member, and each CSO will also receive a copy in due time.
For persons who have not received a hard copy of the book or are just eager to view the contents, R4CR has created a digital flip book (courtesy of Rob Verschueren) that can be viewed online (https://anyflip.com/jzyx/fazo/).
The R4CR program is financed by the Government of the Netherlands via the Sint Maarten Trust Fund. The Trust Fund is administered by the World Bank and monitored by the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB). The R4CR program is being implemented by VNG International.
For more information about the R4CR program or a detailed review of all R4CR projects please visit www.r4cr.org or the Facebook page (R4CRSXM).
