A new project, created by NWAMI International Malta (NIM) and funded by the Ministry for Education’s Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme (VOPS), will bring Maltese and migrant youths together with the aim of fostering environmental stewardship. By providing different groups within the community with a common objective to work on, the project also aims to foster more and better understanding between communities and deliver practical ideas on preserving and enhancing the environment.
The project’s youth engagement activities will be hosted by the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), which offers safe and spacious facilities for community engagement activities.
NIM chairperson Maria-Gabriele Doublesin said the project, titled ‘Together We Strive: Creating a Sustainable Environment Free from Barriers that Divide’, is a transformative voluntary organisation and communities-based project that aims to set an example for driving innovative solutions, adding that the project is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Malta’s contribution to COP26.
She said: “Its main objective is to engage migrant communities and local youths and their families in fostering environmental stewardship. The project consists of three key areas: capacity building, research and immersion through innovative and educational community engagement activities which will start in June.”
The VOPS is an initiative which falls under the Ministry for Education and Employment, administrated by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, which was established in 2015 with an allocated fund of €700,000.
The VOP Fund’s objectives include stimulating cooperation and networking among voluntary organisations, providing a platform for cooperation between VOs and the government, providing a consultative forum to address issues in the voluntary sector, promoting and encouraging a culture of volunteering, especially among children and youth, to encourage personal and social development and fostering cooperation in the voluntary sector between local and international bodies to promote the development of volunteering programmes, initiatives and activities.
NIM is a voluntary organisation set up in Malta in 2021. Its mission is to bridge the socio-cultural divide between Maltese and migrant communities. It does this by helping migrant communities to familiarise themselves with Maltese culture, values and traditions and Maltese communities to understand and deal with values and traditions of migrant communities through various projects and activities.
www.nwamiinternationalmalta.org