2025 CDS Annual Conference

The Community Council Empowerment Pilot Project aims to invest in the advancement of the  Community Councils on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten, with the goal of improving social cohesion, empowerment, and  community engagement. This involves equipping community councils with trainings to enhance their  effectiveness as change agents, and resources to establish their councils as official NGO’s. Trainings  include Project Management, Effective Communication and Grant Writing to name a few. The goal is for  the communities to move away from relying solely on initiatives from Government or other  organizations, rather than solving their challenges and improving their quality of life independently. 
The way in which this project relates to the theme, “Innovative Pathways to Thriving Communities” is  that thriving communities is the ultimate goal. As the saying goes, “You can bring a horse to the water,  but you cannot make it drink.” Due to Sint Maarten's colonial history under Dutch rule, many of its  people have developed a reliance on the government to address most of their challenges. As a newly  established autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, going on just 15 years now, the  communities of Sint Maarten are nudging towards having their own agency. It is for this reason that the  Department of Community Development, Family and Humanitarian Affairs is working to establish the  Community Councils as formidable entities that have the skills and capacity to seize opportunities and  chart their own paths towards a common goal shared by everyone in their respective neighborhoods.