Skip to main content

Pro-active - National Youth Workshop



Last Saturday MŻPN organized a national youth workshop for youngsters and NGOs to discuss youth activism in the voluntary sector and civil society, and to come up with proposals to be presented to the Prime Minister and leader of the Nationalist Party Dr. Lawrence Gonzi.

The seminar was very well attended. It started off with some lively ice-breaking games under the guidance of notorious presenter Ron Briffa, followed by a brief introduction by the Parliamentary Secretary for Youths and Sports Clyde Puli.

Participants were then divided into small workshops chaired by the younger candidates of the Nationalist Party for the next election, including Karl Gouder, Ryan Callus, Antoine Borg, Kristy Debono and myself. The discussion in my workshop was very lively and in which everyone participated, and though we exceeded the time allocated for the workshop, we still had plenty of things which the participants wished to discuss. In my group I had members of the National Council for Women, Malta Motor Federation, Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, Grupp Żgħażagħ Gudja, PN Sectional Committees, local councillors, the Scout Association of Malta, and even lone youths who took interest in youth issues.

Some of the proposals raised in the workshop I was chairing were:

- tackling activism and civil participation through primary and secondary education. This could be done by allowing NGOs to present their work and what they are about in schools and promoting more active citizenship in PSD lessons;

- teaching the basics of time-management from early education levels;

- a central web domain made available to all registered VOs to use as their web-portal. This could allow VOs and NGOs to promote themselves further online without incurring extra expenses;

- a structured way in which Government primary schools are made available for the use of NGOs and associations after school-hours. Most of the problems NGOs encounter are due to the lack of a premises and of locations were to hold meetings or activities. This could go a long way to mitigate this problem and maximize the use of our country's limited resources;

- a national fair of NGOs and voluntary organizations, providing a showcase for NGOs to reach out to new youngsters and people who might be interested in joining.

Many other proposals were raised in the several workshops, not all of which were read out in the main session due to the limited time. The proposals were presented to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who concluded the workshop by addressing all those present. All the proposals will now be compiled in a document to be presented to the Nationalist Party for planning its future policies in the youth and voluntary sectors.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I am dropping out of the Anti-ACTA protest

Like many avid internet users, I have followed with interest the debate about ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). After reading numerous articles, watched sensational videos, and discussed ad nauseam with friends, I have realized that what I have come across is a campaign hi-jacked by lies, myths and misconceptions as to rival Malta's misinformed divorce referendum campaign. I have to say that the videos on Youtube   got me worried. I quickly signed the petition, joined the Anti-ACTA groups, and prepared myself for a full-blown fight against the big-governments who want to intrude on our privacy and freedom of expression. Like our MEP Edward Scicluna invited us to do in the University debate last Wednesday, I did not try to understand the details of ACTA but rather saw who the players behind it were. But as usual, my logical instincts took over, and his call to not try to understand ACTA actually pushed me to read the text. And here's what I now know: ACTA is ...
19 comments
Read more

Who's the real monster?

I usually hate comparisons, but some very different reactions from the 'great unthinking' rabble do merit some analysis. In May this year, the notorious dog Star was found buried alive . A prima facie , this looked liked the most horrific case of animal cruelty, and is still considered so by some. The perpetrator was described by the sensitive and caring animal-lovers as a villain, a heartless monster, deserving of death, stoning, or even to be 'buried alive in the same manner'. But what did Mr. Vella actually do, according to the testimony heard in Court? Star was sick. It was shedding fur, and quite old already, and its owner did not afford the treatment. In trying to save some money from paying for the dog to be put to sleep and killed properly by vets, she gave it to Mr. Vella to have it killed himself. Nothing much to make people angry till now. Mercy-killing of very sick and suffering animals is widely done and usually a...
17 comments
Read more

Elezzjoni għal Viċi Kap

Nemmen li l-Partit Nazzjonalista jeħtieġ Viċi-Kap li jkompli jsaħħaħ il-proċess ta' tiġdid li għaddej minnu l-Partit stess, biex ikun jista' jkompli jwettaq il-bidliet pożittivi f'pajjiżna. Għalhekk kien ta' pjaċir għalija li nhar is-Sibt li għadda kont wieħed minn tal-ewwel li iffirmajt in-nomina ta' Dr. Simon Busuttil għal din il-kariga tant importanti. Nawguralu minn qalbi.
Post a Comment
Read more