Foreign Minister George Vella gave Parliament a detailed breakdown of how €235,198 in Malta Overseas Development Aid are being spent this year on 13 projects.
He was answering a question by Opposition MP Francis Zammit Dimech.
The projects are in Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Madagascar, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Guatemala, Egypt, Peru and Morocco.
Asked what criteria were used to decide which NGOs should benefit from the scheme, Dr Vella said due consideration was given to projects intended for priority regions in accordance with Malta’s official assistance development policy for 2014-2020.
Beneficiaries needed to be officially registered with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, as well as other organisations.
Other criteria were conformity with the Malta official assistance policy and the particular project’s resilience, technical and financial capabilities of the organisations involved and each project’s sustainability.
The minister said there had been 20 projects in 2014 with a total aid programme of €239,405. The projects were in Ethiopia, Chad, India, Amazonia, Addis Ababa, Kenya, Guatemala, Togo, Philippines, Uganda, Madagascar, Pakistan and Tanzania.
One project in 2014 helped the Moroccan community in Malta to address women’s social status.