The 1973 Hit Song Slogan by the great Bob Marley and Peter Tosh today plays one of the greatest roles towards motivating many community oriented activists. The phrase “get up, stand up” stimulates our minds and souls to ACT!
It motivates us to act on behalf of nature, cultural preservation, injustice, prejudice, workers’ rights, quality education, protecting our children, the right for peace and justice, opportunity and over all love for humanity. None of the aforementioned is worth giving up the fight for – and because some chose to not give up the fight, it has brought an abundance of possibilities to those who deserve it.
Resources for Community Resilience (R4CR) has done just that – Got up and stood up! An organization that focuses on strengthening the capacity of other community organizations was much in need. With their core values such as education, leadership, equality and accountability, they have also become role models to us at ECO St. Maarten Agricultural Research and Development Center Foundation and others.
Today, we are here because of the fire that was ignited from such organizations and slogans that challenge the inequalities along this journey we call life, while working towards leaving a fertile path of abundant resources and fruit in all aspects for our communities and future generations to come!
Taking a stand for what you truly believe in is the beginning of achieving it. ECO SXM stands behind the principle of Educating, Cultivating and Outreaching to community members and those interested in achieving agricultural sustainability and resilience for our children, communities and island.
“Nothing good comes easy, and nothing easy or cheap ain’t good” ––Wyatte, Project Coordinator at ECO SXM.
At the end of the day, what you put in is what you will get out. Same aspect can be applied to one’s health and our communities. What we put in is what we get out. Currently, insufficient or nothing, but that has slowly been adjusting as we see more positive organizations such as R4CR emerging in our communities.
One of the trending reasons why we believe our communities are not moving forward is simply because of less or no community input from members – or non-active organizations.
Many of us put our money into supermarkets in the community for example. But, think of it: What did these current supermarket owners do? They pooled their resources together and created a supply chain for us, supported by us.
Some may see it as a very strategic cooperative move – and it is. It is also just business. So, the next question would be: Can we pool together resources and create supply chains to meet the demands of our community members? The simple answer is yes.
R4CR has clearly demonstrated that such methods can yield great results by providing adequate resources. So, why are we not doing it? Well, that may lead to a whole other paragraph. We believe that many have tried and have lost confidence in others and themselves, due to lack of support, consistency, transparency and accountability. These simple things play a great role in how we build our integrity!
Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness: “He is known to be a man of integrity.” This is what you want to be known for; it’s the greatest recognition one can be honoured with.
We at ECO SXM focus on just that – integrity. It is the foundation on which we build, and we make sure our principles and intentions are guided by integrity. By upholding integrity and pooling our resources, such as intellectual properties, administration, agriculture, consulting, catering, local product development and other essential services, there is no doubt we will come up with some pretty cool and creative projects or business ideas that can be geared toward meeting the needs and objectives of our community and its members, and in the end will lead to a more resourceful and sustainable community in all aspects.
Together, we can do just that and it doesn’t take a whole lot to achieve it, as every little counts. We thank R4CR for all the little things it does, for it takes every little brick or block to build a home on this beautiful island we call St. Maarten.
Over the past seven months of developing our new greenhouse towards the increasing of our capacity of local agricultural production, the trials and triumphs we experienced brought us great insight, learning experiences and joyful human interactions that will stand the test of time.
ECO SXM looks forward to making available more resources – such as educational programs, soil, seeds, seedlings, plants, home gardening/farming assistance and project development – to community members and the general public, to keep alive the awareness and importance of agriculture in our communities.
Adding strength to the capacity of ECO SXM and the development of our additional greenhouse, which features traditional and advance approaches towards the development of agriculture, will allow us to execute our ECO Learning Programs for 2024, which started in February, and will encourage community members to get more involved in the much neglected sector that is of most value. It’s time for us to get up and stand up!
This project is funded by the government of the Netherlands via the Sint Maarten Trust Fund. The R4CR program is administered by the World Bank, implemented by VNGI, and overseen by the NRPB.
Interested in contacting ECO St Maarten Agricultural Research and Development Center Foundation for any of the above mentioned resources? Please feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our Facebook page @ facebook.com/StMaartenAgriculture
In photo: Participating members of the ECO Learning Program enhance their agricultural skills in the new greenhouse funded by R4CR at St. Maarten Agricultural Research & Development Center Foundation in St Peters.
