The Malta Council for the Volunteer Sector (MCVS) was nominated by the Maltese Government to act as National Coordinating Body (NCB) for the “European Year of Volunteering 2011″(EYV 2011) designated by the EU Council.
The “European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship in 2011 is intended to foster volunteering in Europe and to help civil society, local and regional communities and Member States to work towards an enabling and facilitating environment for volunteering in the EU; empower volunteer organisations and improve the quality of volunteering; reward and recognise achievements gained in volunteering activities; and raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.
For this reason the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector(MCVS) in collaboration with the Ministry for Education, Employment and the Family are participating in the Malta Trade Fair as part of the activities of the “European Year of Volunteering 2011” held in Malta. The Malta Trade Fair closes this coming Sunday 3rd of July.
The Gozo SPCA was the only NGO from Gozo to participate, the photographs show the stand on day one of the fair as well as little Dennis, displaying some of the merchandise.
The idea of the MCVS participation is not simply to promote volunteering in general through its work but will be supporting three different Voluntary Organisations every day on its stand where they may also promote their organisation. During the ten days 35 voluntary organisations coming from various areas of the sector are participating. The Malta Trade Fair is visited each year by about 90,000 people and on the first day alone MCVS calculated that some 2,000 people visited the stand. The Deputy Prime Miinister Dr. Tonio Borg, who officially opened the Malta Trade Fair, visited the MCVS Stand to mark the EYV 2011 in recognition for the work carried out by volunteers.
MCVS AIMS:
To support the development of a more effective and efficient voluntary and community sector in Malta and Gozo through the delivery of a range of support and capacity building services including information, advice and training.
To support the development of a more influential and cohesive voluntary and community sector in Malta and Gozo by facilitating networking and partnership within the sector, and between the same sector and the private and public sectors.