All this year’s Crystal Pineapple Award (CPA) recipients were no doubt worthy (see Tuesday paper), but St. Maarten Training Foundation (SMTF) stands out. The contribution it made in the recovery from devastating Hurricane Irma by providing paid education to hotel workers out of a job and others left un- or underemployed cannot be overstated.
Close to 1,000 persons took advantage of the three-days-per-week mandatory courses – with a stipend, transport allowance and health insurance – in hospitality but also construction, health care, language, etc. One of the spinoffs is an initiative announced earlier this month to establish the island’s first internationally-accredited nursing school.
It’s quite fitting too that Keith Graham, one of the main engines behind the Emergency Income Support and Training Programme financed largely from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund managed by the World Bank, was recognised with a special CPA. He is part of a group who immediately saw an urgent short-term socioeconomic need and the best possible way to address such.
SMTF recently completed an audit certification process by government accountant SOAB to ensure the money is well spent. It’s also an example of effectively using more than half a billion euros made available by the Netherlands for the island’s reconstruction, something often said to be lacking.
Mind you, “Building Back Better” isn’t only about physical projects, but just as much about the people and human resources they represent especially for a tourist destination. Improving their social circumstances, skills, prospects, opportunities and quality of life remains the end goal.
