On the 16th of May, the Government of Sint Maarten and VNG International launched our new programme Fostering Resilient Crisis Management (FRCM).

The programme was launched by Sint Maarten’s Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and Secretary General of General Affairs Hensley Plantijn, in a Steering Committee session attended by the EU Delegation, the EU-RESEMBID team, the Government of Sint Maarten’s Steering Committee members for Disaster Management and VNG International.

After VNG International’s presentation of the FRCM programme, the Secretary General stated “We are 100% behind this project” and the Prime Minister praised our continued cooperation: “This partnership bears great fruit to Sint Maarten and the wider Caribbean.”

FRCM is a technical assistance programme implemented by VNG International in cooperation with the Government of St Maarten, and funded by EU-RESEMBID. As a follow-up programme to the Government of Sint Maarten and VNG International’s last crisis management cooperation, FRCM has as its overall objective to anchor the long-term resilience and self-sufficiency of the Government of St Maarten in the field of crisis management.

Specifically, the programme will work on improving information management, developing a knowledge centre for resources, courses and trainings on crisis management, developing standard operating procedures for various scales and types of crises,  and on improving regional cooperation in disasters. The programme will run until end 2023.