The improvement works at the Voluntary Center in Xewkija are well under way, where an investment is currently being made so that the Gozitan voluntary organizations are served with up-to-date facilities and resources. Apart from serving as an office for the Maltese Council for the Voluntary Sector, this center welcomes the European Services in Malta (SEM) and is also used by organizations registered as VOs where they can use this space to meet and organize their activities. The center should be ready in the coming months. Apart from this, as the works are completed, the Center will also serve as a one-stop-shop of help and support to Gozitan volunteers and voluntary associations. This will complement the three centers that already work in this way in Malta, which are located in Belt, Rabat and Birkirkara.
Julia Farrugia, Minister for Inclusion, Volunteering and Consumer Rights. accompanied by Clint Camilleri, Minister for Gozo, visited the place and followed the work that is currently going on. “The development and modernization that is being done in this Center reflects not only the fulfillment of another electoral promise concerning the volunteering sector but also reflects how much volunteering has worked and is appreciated. I often refer to the field of volunteering as a national treasure that we should cherish and fear for. I support this because this is the reality. The role that volunteering offers in the various areas of daily life in our communities is not easy to measure. And so it is our duty as Government to reciprocate the shoulder that the voluntary associations offer with a shoulder from our side. Hence the various financial aid schemes to benefit the voluntary associations. Over the last 15 years the Government has invested around €14 million in the field of volunteering. A look at the Budget for the year 2024 shows that we will continue on this path of recognition towards a sector which in the diversity of its activities is a community socio-economic motor”, said Minister Farrugia Portelli. She added that from this place through the one-stop-shop system, the Gozitan voluntary associations, particularly the small and medium ones that depend on aid for their operation, will be finding it under one roof.
The Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri said, “We have done extensive maintenance and beautification work of the Center for Voluntary Associations in Xewkija which will be the first one-stop-shop for voluntary associations in Gozo and which was necessary so that these organizations can find help for their tasks in one place.” He explained that this Center is being renovated by the workers of the Operations Division in the Ministry for Gozo in collaboration also with the Ministry for Inclusion, Volunteering and Consumer Rights in order to continue to facilitate the – the work of the voluntary associations in Gozo. Minister Clint Camilleri concluded by saying that this continues to testify to the work of the Ministry for Gozo in order to continuously strengthen the field of volunteering also in Gozo.
In a comment during this visit, the Chief Executive of the Maltese Council for the Voluntary Sector, Mr. Mauro Pace Parascandalo, said that it is nice to see collaboration between Ministries and different entities that all work with one goal. . What we improve and create services that help those who need them in the field of volunteering, where in the end we are helping and making it possible for many projects and initiatives in the communities, in this case Gozitan, to be implemented for the good of all.
