More consultation meetings planned

The House Social Affairs Committee is to hold meetings with voluntary organisations before Parliament approves the Voluntary Organisations Bill in committee.

Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina told the House yesterday that this Bill was the fruit of wide-ranging consultations with NGOs after a White Paper was published. Although agreement was broad, she had written to the chairman of the Social Affairs Committee, suggesting a final round of meetings before the House proceeded with the Bill through the remaining stages of legislation.

Mrs Cristina made her comments shortly before the House gave unanimous backing for the Bill on second reading.

The purpose of the Bill is to regulate voluntary organisations, establish a Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations and provide for privileges to be enjoyed by such enrolled organisations.

The Bill also establishes the Register of Voluntary Organisations and the Council of the Voluntary Sector. A Voluntary Organisations Fund will also be created to assist and support enrolled voluntary organisations through education, management and financial grants.

The minister said the purpose of the Bill was to strengthen the voluntary sector while safeguarding its independence. It also protected the people by ensuring that NGOs were accountable.

This sector was an important component of civil society, with hundreds of people involved in the social, sports, environmental, religious, cultural and care areas, among others.

The government, the private sector and NGOs clearly needed to work closer together in a coordinated manner, to avoid an over-lapping of resources.

Mrs Cristina said credibility was an essential element for public confidence in NGOs. For example, NGOs which received public funds needed to explain how they were used. Her ministry alone was giving NGOs Lm780,000 and it was careful to ensure that such money was used wisely. However, the government was also assisting NGOs through other means. The Housing Authority, for example, transferred some housing units to voluntary organisations. Government agencies also bought services provided by some NGOs.

Mrs Cristina said she understood that some NGOs had a problem with finding premises where to meet. She had met representatives of what must have been hundreds of organisations seeking premises. It was not possible for the government to meet such requests, but it was giving Lm10,000 to the Malta Resource Centre which could make rooms available. The ministry would also be making a boardroom available in Floriana for meetings and other activities held by voluntary organisations.

Replying to several points made during the debate, Mrs Cristina said the definition of 'voluntary organisations' had proved problematic during the consultation stage but a large majority of organisations strongly felt that the word "voluntary" should be included in the title. It was felt that voluntary organisations should be not-for-profit and they should not be self-serving, but serving society in general. Another important element was that such organisations had to be independent and autonomous of the government. Therefore, government agencies did not fall under the definitions of this Bill.

The Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations would be a point of reference, a voice for the voluntary sector and a source of information.

This Bill would give legal personality to NGOs and it was, therefore, being enacted in parallel with amendments to the Civil Code, on registration.

Enrolment in the register would be voluntary, but the enrolled organisations would be more eligible for assistance, the minister said. Rogue organisations, however rare, caused major harm to the reputation of the whole sector, which was why the government wanted transparency and accountability across the sector.

Mrs Cristina said several meetings held with NGOs even as this Bill was being debated, had revealed some misunderstandings regarding the Bill's provisions. Some contributions in the media were based on the provisions of the White Paper, not the Bill itself. Nonetheless, she could report that agreement was broad, with nearly all suggestions by the NGOs being incorporated. Earlier, Labour MP Noel Farrugia underscored the importance of voluntary organisations and noted their deep roots in society.

He said that in 1985 he had set up the Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi, to promote safe offroad motorsport without inconveniencing residents or farmers. The association was still active and was now making use of a track at Ta' Qali but he was disappointed that government recognition was lacking.

All those who gave up their free time for voluntary work should find support from the government in recognition for their service to society. Motorsports was an area which could be developed as an area of activity for the Mediterranean region with proper commitment and support. This was, after all, a multi-million liri industry.

Mr Farrugia expressed regret that several NGOs were finding it difficult to source funding for their projects, and fund raising activities were yielding lower returns.

Mr Farrugia said despite the structures being established by the Bill, certain difficulties would persist. For example, those involved in NGOs missed on a lot of overtime and time with their families. How was the Bill to address this need?

He said he believed the time had come to provide the country's voluntary organisations with the funding they needed to function and upgrade their facilities.

Labour MP Karl Chircop said this Bill had been long in coming and the Opposition was backing it because it agreed with the need to regulate the sector of voluntary organisations.

He said NGOs could be more effective in certain areas than the government, particularly in cultural activities which also helped tourism.

Other NGOs were doing sterling work in animal welfare, workers' rights, the social and religious sectors, to mention a few.

Such legislation was useful to the NGOs themselves because transparency reinforced their integrity and therefore raised public confidence.

He said that while the government could not oblige NGOs to register in the Registry of Voluntary Organisations, it should make public which NGOs were registered and which were not. It would then be up to the people to decide whether or not to trust NGOs which were not formally registered.

At the end of his speech Dr Chircop complained that there was an element of chauvinism in some NGOs. For example, big football clubs were not giving the development of football for girls the same attention they gave boys. The government should see what it could do to address this situation.

Labour MP Helena Dalli said it was good to recognise NGOs and give them a legal basis. The country would be poorer without the service which many people gave in voluntary organisations. The government, therefore, had the duty to help such organisations.

Mrs Dalli underlined the useful work done by the Cancer Support Group, the Hospice Movement, as well as social organisations such as those for widows and widowers and separated persons.

The least the government could do was to provide some rooms where such organisations could hold their meetings.

The Labour MP augured that the number of people involved in voluntary activities, which appeared to have dipped, would recover and grow because society only stood to benefit.

Nationalist MP Franco Galea said it was difficult to imagine society without the contribution of voluntary organisations.

People got themselves active in voluntary organisations for different reasons, including the opportunity such involvement gave them to participate in sectors which affected them directly. Organisations such as the Hospice Movement, the Eden Foundation and the Richmond Foundation provided a lot of support without fanfare.

The variety of NGOs was impressive. Very good work was being done in the environment/development sector by organisations such as Flimkien ghall-Ambjent Ahjar while the Peace Laboratory was giving a service to irregular migrants.

Mr Galea called for some fine-tuning of the Bill. For example, some organisations were involved in more than one area of activity but did not feature in the nature of organisations listed in the Bill.

Organisations which were subsidiaries of foreign organisations should also register locally and operate under the same regime as other organisations.

While it was positive that NGOs would display their registration number in their literature, they should also state under which category they were registered, to avoid confusion.

Mr Galea said he felt that access to funds both local and European should, if possible, also be treated in the Bill. The Nationalist MP said he also felt the penalties contemplated in the Bill were not tough enough.