National Training Conference 2017 – Building Resilience within the Voluntary Sector

The annual National Training Conference was organised by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector between the 27th and the 28th October 2017 at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra. The theme of this year’s conference was “Building Resilience within the Voluntary Sector”.

The first day took off with a welcome address by Mr Nathan Farrugia, Chairperson Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector .This was followed by a plenary session: “Building Resilience within the Voluntary Sector” delivered by Mr. Nathan Farrugia, Chairperson of the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector. This was followed by a very interesting panel discussion moderated by Mr Mauro Pace Parascandalo. The guests on the panel discussion were Mr Nathan Farrugia, Prof. Kenneth Wain, (Commissioner for VO’s,) Mr. John Mallia, (COOP) and Ms. Antoinette Caruana, (Farsons).

On the second and final day there was another plenary session: “Leadership and Advocacy “delivered by Mr. Jonathon Kruger, CEO, World Confederation for Physical Therapy”. A discussion was held afterwards with Mr. Jonathon Kruger, Mr. Nathan Farrugia, Ms. Claudia Taylor-East (CEO, SOS Malta) and Mr. Steve Mercieca (CEO, Zanzi Homes) as guests. This was followed by 4 sets of workshops: “Teamwork” by Mr. Steve Mercieca, “Leadership: Advocating for Change” by Mr. Jonathon Kruger and “Volunteers Valletta 2018” by Mr. JD Farrugia, (SOS Malta, Tal-Kultura).

Another set of workshops were delivered after Lunch: “Funding Lines for VOs by Ms. Maria-Louisa Busuttil, (Fund Manager, MCVS), “Funding Lines for VOs” by Mr. Jonathan Balzan, (Funding Officer, MCVS) and “Discussing a Research Project” delivered by Mr. Lawrence Zammit (Director, MISCO).

This was followed by an introduction and launch the Common Web Portal for Public Funding for VOs, presented by Mr. Mauro Pace Parascandalo.

The conference was officially closed off by the address of the, Chairperson of the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, Mr. Nathan Farrugia together with a closing speech of the Onor. Dr. Clifton Grima, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sports and Voluntary Organisations.