€60,000 in grants to civil society organisations

Parliamentary Secretary for Consumers, Fair Competition, Local Councils and Public Dialogue, Chris Said, presented cheques to constituted bodies and representative organisations to assist them to participate in European umbrella organisations, grouping, federations, confederations or networks and attending conferences, seminars and meetings abroad on matters directly related to the EU in relation to such affiliation.

The Civil Society Fund (CSF) is administered by the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC). It is also aimed at assisting civil society organisations to keep abreast of developments in the European Union and enabling them to better educate their members about EU matters related to their respective fields of competence as well as to participate effectively in the decision-making process at European level.

25 Civil Society Organisations will be benefitting from the funds that are being allocated for 2010/2011. These amount to a total of €60,074.92.  This Call for Proposals issued in August 2010 covers activities held or to be held during the period 1 September 2010 to 31 October 2011.

The CSF provides financial support of up to 80% of the eligible expenses borne by the respective Civil Society Organisation. The total amount of eligible expenses that may be considered by the Committee for the allocation of a grant cannot exceed €12,500 for each individual applicant.

Eligible organisations must be voluntary, self-governing organisations that regularly and actively participate in the MEUSAC consultation processes structures, the Core Group or one of the nine sectoral committees.

All organisations benefitting from CSF have entered into a written grant agreement with MEUSAC whereby they undertake to collaborate with MEUSAC in the organisation of various activities including making available facilities for seminars and meetings related to both MEUSAC and to the respective organisation’s roles and functions.

The beneficiaries of the Civil Society Fund are the Association of Speech Language Pathologists, the Chamber of Engineers, CMTU, the Hair and Beauty Federation, the Consumers Association, the Malta Association of Hospitality Executives, the Malta Association of Social Workers, the Malta Association of Physiotherapists, the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists, the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, the Malta Dental Technology Association, the Malta Exercise, Health and Fitness Association, the Malta Federation of Professional Associations, the Malta Gay Rights Movement, the Malta Health Network, the Malta Institute of Management, the Malta Midwives Association, the Malta Union of Bank Employees, the Malta Islands Agri Federation, the National Association of Pensioners, the National Council of Women (Malta), the Richmond Foundation, the Soċjetà Turistika Maltija, the Gozo Business Chamber and the Scout Association of Malta.