Leaving no one out

The recently announced Community Support Scheme is yet another endorsement of government’s commitment to fund and assist localities and communities with environmental, cultural and restoration initiatives.

Aimed at reaching out to those localities—19 in all—that are not eligible to benefit from funds allocated under the European Union’s Leader Programme, this national scheme ensures no one is left out.

The €800,000 fund will help sustain dedicated local NGOs in their noble, everyday work in their communities.

Whether formal and nonprofit or informal, grassroots associations and NGOs play a crucial role in civil society. Known as the ‘third sector’, they make significant contributions to the welfare, integration and solidarity process among residents within their localities. Their work at grassroots level is based on a sharp and sensitive awareness of the needs and aspirations of the communities they keep in direct and constant contact with.

Incredibly, there are no less than 900 voluntary organisations which operate within these 19 communities and which will have, through these funds, the opportunity to further excel in their cultural and environmental projects and initiatives. Projects such as restoration works on paintings and exhibition halls, activities promoting different cultural aspects of our towns and villages, and embellishing the environment with roof gardens and green areas will now receive funding to ensure successful implementation.

Irrespective of where they are based, we will, as a government, have the voluntary groups’ back in the ongoing process of offering a better quality of life for their communities. Such space and concrete support are meant to ensure that the benefits are not reserved to just rural areas but will be spread out in a more inclusive and effective manner.

The Leader Programme has, over the years, gone a long way towards successfully and innovatively implementing development projects in the rural areas of our islands. The new scheme addresses the problems and obstacles that voluntary organisations—those registered with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations—local and regional councils, ineligible for other funds, face.

Under the new scheme, funds will now be available to 19 localities: Birkirkara, Bormla, Tarxien, Valletta, Birgu, Marsa, Paola, Pembroke, St Julian’s, San Ġwann, Santa Venera, Pietà, Sliema and Ta’ Xbiex.

Undoubtedly, this is another much-required and rational measure that will make a real difference in the lives of people and their families within their communities.

I am deeply grateful for the relentless support and professional advice of both Mauro Pace Parascandolo, chief executive of the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS), and Roderick Zerafa, chief executive of Servizzi Ewropej f’Malta (SEM).

It is no understatement to say that our combined strategy is aimed primarily at leaving no one out, making sure all communities in Malta and Gozo can share in the larger, inclusive project of providing not only easy access to finance but also a role to play in the formation of a more just and purposeful Maltese society.