WHO WE SERVE

St. Maarten’s NGO field is vital to the country’s national development and continuous support must be given to the sector to build a stronger St. Maarten. For this reason we think of the NGOs we support as clients we serve. Using this approach ensures that we work diligently to provide both financial and non-financial support to our clients. In serving them, we are able to provide much needed resources, safety and a sense of security to the most vulnerable within our community.

We understand the intricate value of the country’s NGO field and dedicate ourselves to being supportive catalysts of change for our clients because they are vital to Contributing to a Society that Cares. The NGOs that we serve work across a range of areas, caring for society’s most vulnerable. Previous independent studies of St. Maarten’s social development have identified the community’s most vulnerable to be the unemployed, youth, single parents, the elderly, persons battling substance abuse, women, ex-prisoners, victims of domestic abuse and incest, commercial sex workers, persons with sexually transmitted diseases, LBTQ communities, undocumented persons, persons with physical or mental handicaps, illiterate persons, uninsured persons and those living in poverty.

As many of the previously mentioned areas are cross-cutting, resulting in strong intersectionalities, SMDF’s Policy Plan ‘Contributing to a Society That Cares 2013 – 2023’ outlines the foundation’s core intervention areas, namely:

• Youth, from inception to age 24
• Seniors, 55 years and older
• Persons with a mental, physical and/or social challenge
• Gender
  • Women and single mothers
  • Boys
• Teenage parenthood

While these five work areas may seem small, our clients’ interventions are impactful across multiple segments of society. Be it senior care, poverty alleviation or youth development, our clients are responding to multiple stressors within our society and we are happy to serve them.