The people in the Northwest region need a non-governmental organization (NGO) to centralize the services and resources for Pattiw, Pafeng, and Namonweito in the areas of educational opportunities, economic development, health care, leadership development, and cultural preservation. Governed by a diverse Board of Directors comprising political, traditional, religious, women, and youth leaders, the NGO will empower the people in improving services in the outer islands. Therefore, we call on sons and daughters of the Northwest region living overseas, and our global partners to help fund this NGO and build a multipurpose Fanapi Center (Uuten Ataween Fanapi) located on Weno. We must unite as a people and build a multi-purpose center to address the various needs of the outer islands. The Fanapi Center would house a library, conference room, training classrooms, outdoor basketball / volleyball court, health clinic, kitchen, internet cafe, radio station, a store, an outdoor seating area for cultural performances, and offices for all Northwest leadership in the State and national government.
Action Strategies:
- Political Offices: Create offices for the congressional and state representatives to make the political leaders accessible to the Northwest constituents.
- Educational Reform: Create an Office for the Northwest Unified Schools aimed at providing administrative leadership for all the public schools in the Northwest islands.
- Youth: Responsible for creating programs and services to empower the youth from the Northwest.
- College Advising: Responsible for helping high school students from the Northwest apply for colleges, seek financial aid opportunities, and provide internship options for students.
- Women: Responsible for creating empowerment and leadership opportunities for women from the Northwest.
- Health: Responsible for providing medical services, manage the health dispensaries in the Northwest, and to host volunteer doctors and dentists who will serve the Northwest islands.
- Leadership Training: Create a multipurpose Conference Room to be used for meetings, job training programs, leadership development programs, etc.
- Job Training : Responsible for creating on-the-job-training programs for COM students from the Northwest to work at the Fanapi Center for scholarships, college funds, and access to all leadership opportunities.
- Cultural Preservation : Create an outdoor amphitheater to serve as a place for Northwest youth to perform cultural performances for tourists and propagate the learning of cultural traditional artform.
- Internet Cafe: Build an internet cafe with several internet linked computers to be used by Northwest students for their academic and personal use.
- Library: Establish a library where magazines, books, wired computers can be accessible.
- Atawe Store: Establish a Goodwill-type store to sell clothing, school uniforms, tools, food items, fishing equipment, solar panels, inverters, pumps, flashlights, and other supplies that are specifically useful in the outer islands. Northwest people living overseas can pay for items in the store to be picked up by relatives. They can also send money directly through the store.
- Radio Studio: Establish a studio for making radio programs or for broadcasting an AM Radio Station for the outer islands.
- Microfinancing: Establish partnerships with international NGOs and the US-based Fanapi Foundation to help fund programs in areas of microfinancing for outer island small businesses, educational scholarship, research initiatives, and healthcare resources.
