It was very welcome news that yet another much-needed NGO has been formed, this time to help those having issues with perinatal mental health.

The development highlights the sterling work carried out by volunteers who freely give their time, energy and skills to help others. From helping the vulnerable and under-privileged to protecting the environment, tens of thousands of people regularly place themselves at the service of others, expecting nothing back in material terms. Malta would be much poorer without these unsung heroes.

For decades, voluntary organisations have often ploughed a lone furrow, going about their work enthusiastically but suffering from limited resources and narrow vision, and often operating in amateurish ways, and at times bickering – or worse – with each other. As society became more complex and both the understanding of human behaviour and peoples’ aspirations increased, volunteers sought to enhance the services they delivered. Training of members of voluntary organisations is now common.

The appreciation of the impact of volunteering initiatives highlighted the need for the government to assist voluntary organisations to enhance their effectiveness, but also to provide societal sanctioning through legal recognition.

The Voluntary Organisations Act passed in 2007 created the structures to provide these facilitation and supervision functions.

Very importantly, the Act recognised the importance of promoting joint initiatives between voluntary organisations and government. This model of public-private co-operation reflects an ideological position and a vision which was first outlined – with reference limitedly to the social sector – nearly 30 years ago in a seminal policy document called ‘Lejn Suriet Ġodda ta’ Wens u Sedqa’.

It was a visionary document and, as such, inevitably naively idealistic in parts, but which envisioned a civic society which loomed large in the affairs of the Maltese nation – and a role for government which gradually diminished in importance.

Reality rudely intervened and has forced substantial adjustments to the vision, but the fundamental belief that government and civic society – of which the voluntary sector is a truly major component – should form an enduring partnership remains extremely valid.

Government thus finds itself in a situation where it has to collaborate on initiatives with entities it also seeks to regulate. It is a situation which has to be managed with intelligence, sensitivity and finesse. Not all voluntary organisations have grasped the importance of adhering to the provisions of the Voluntary Organisations Act. Quite recently new regulations have come into force which facilitate registration with the Commission for Voluntary Organisations and differentiate between the bigger and the smaller organisations.

There is a perception – almost certainly not reflective of the reality – that the process of registration is unnecessarily complicated. The Commission would do well to keep explaining that joining is in fact simple – and very useful for all voluntary organisations.

The voluntary sector has much to offer and can make a difference in the lives of individuals and of communities.

Volunteering can also make a difference in the lives of the volunteers themselves: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” Mahatma Gandhi once wrote.

Assisting voluntary organisations to flourish can only confer benefits to us all.