by Krystal Paco

Guam - Where the government and private sector can't provide, non-profit organizations step forward. Today kicked off Payu-Ta 2nd Annual Non-Profit Congress, themed "Weaving Policy & Practice: The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Sustaining Pacific Communities." Payu-Ta (Chamorro for "our umbrella"), caters to 30 non-governmental organizations locally.

For Darryl Taggerty of Marianas Educational Media Services Inc., his NGO caters to services not provided by commercial media. "I'm here to learn from my fellow non-profits," he shared. "How we can do things better and how we can work to improve services to the community."

Conference coordinator Sarah Thomas Nededog said, "The NGOs, not only on Guam, but in the region, are looking at the military buildup and different things that are happening in the region to discern what role the non-profit sector can have with government - local government and federal government, as well as the private sector."

Pat Wolff, founder and president of Inafa'maolek, Guam's only non-profit dedicated to conflict resolution, attended a session this morning on strategic management specifically for non-profits. "My dream right now is to create a regional conflict resolution organization and one of the exciting reasons I'm here is because there's people from throughout the Micronesian region who are present and I want to share the excitement of getting some fellowship and networking going amongst all the people who are doing peacemaking in our western pacific region," he said.

by Krystal Paco

Despite the challenges with financial juggling and capacity, Wolff says that passion drives all non-profits, adding, "They do what they do without any compensation at all."