We believe in the social entrepreneurship movement which is rooted in the personal commitment to find practical, innovative and sustainable approaches to improve the lives of the marginalized and poor in the world.
Outer Islands Partnership
Raatior Ventures focuses on building global and local partnerships to help the people in the small remote outer islands in the developing country of Micronesia. Our focus is on improving educational resources, economic development, and health care needs of the people through the Outer Islands Partnership.
our mission
The mission of Outer Islands Partnership is to build global partnerships to support the local needs in the remote outer islands of Micronesia.
our vision
We envision a just world in which the vast global resources in education, health care, and economic development opportunities in developed countries are accessible to women and children in the poor and remote outer islands in Micronesia.
our approach
OIP is about alleviating poverty in the outer islands of Micronesia by building sustainable, community-based, locally focused opportunities aided by global resources. Our strategy is to partner with existing global resources to provide technical assistance to the island communities, empower women and children towards self-sufficiency, enabling greater access to global resources for economic and social development. We are humbled by the immensity of needs in those islands. But we would be the first to want to find the tools that people need to make a long-lasting difference in their own lives and the life of their respective island communities.
Empowerment: We don’t claim to have the power. Rather, we provide new tools and resources that people can use to give them the chance to help themselves. It must stem from within the island community to want to help themselves. With that approach, it is more about challenging the people to realize their power to succeed than about our giving them any power that they did not already possess.
Engagement: By engagement, we mean the need for us to always focus on the needs and voices of the outer islanders. We must not forget that the true sign of success for us is to work ourselves out of a job. The people must always identify their needs and make clear their desire to solve those problems themselves. Afterall, the local people know their communities and live the hardship of poverty.
Equity: We are referring to the larger issues of global inequities. But more importantly we want to do something about this. And we recognize the other people, communities, organizations, companies that want to do something about it. The people in the small remote developing countries must be given a chance and the resources to succeed.
about me
Vid Raatior is a devoted dad and husband, a member of the Pwaraka & Alengeitaw clans, an international educator, a former Jesuit, a citizen journalist, a social entrepreneur, and a web designer. Originally from the outer islands of Chuuk in the Pacific island nation of Micronesia, Vid lives in Northern California with his wife Desha and children Keala and Keoni and works at Santa Clara University.