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Appogg, Sedqa and Sapport benefiting from EU’s Mobility Programmes
Friday, July 24, 2009

20 professionals from Agenzija Sedqa, Agenzija Appogg and Agenzija Sapport within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, have participated in two projects that form part of the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci Mobility Programme. These include Professional Support Workers, Youth Workers, Social Workers, Prevention Executives and Psychologists.

Over the past two days, experiences about the benefits of these placements were presented to other staff working in the field both within the Foundations’ Agencies and other local entities. The aim of these two days was to disseminate the information acquired to equip other staff with knowledge necessary in their work when intervening with service users.

The Leonardo da Vinci Mobility Programme assists beneficiaries in training activities to help them acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to facilitate their development in a professional context.

Ms. Claire Meenehan - Personal Development Co-ordinator and Ms. Lorraine Thompson - Training and Development Coordinator; both from Include Youth Belfast delivering their presentation during the conference.

During the final dissemination conference, Ms. Sina Bugeja, CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services stressed on the importance of such training initiatives to ensure the enhancement and development of skills, thus improving service provision. Ms. Bugeja thanked EUPA and all foreign organisations who collaborated with the Foundation on these projects. She also augured the beneficiaries for their success and encouraged them to share the knowledge and techniques they acquired from these experiences with their colleagues for the benefit of service users.

Mr. Frans Borg, President of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services Board, presented certificates to the 20 beneficiaries who participated in these 2 mobility projects.

Professionals from Agenzija Sedqa and Agenzija Appogg participated in a Leonardo da Vinci funded project entitled Enhancing Professional Skill Development of Local Professionals Who Support Adoloscents. The aim of such project was to enhance the skills needed to work with young people aged between 11 to 18 years. The focus was on areas specialising on young people who have a substance misuse problem and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties. The beneficiaries acquired knowledge on the best practices adopted and implemented within services that support young persons in other EU countries. This has also triggered off ideas on how these services can be adapted and implemented on a local level.

One of the project participants, receiving a certificate of participation in the Leonardo da Vinci Project, from Mr. Frans Borg, President of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services Board

Professionals from Agenzija Sapport benefited from the second Leonardo da Vinci Project entitled Working towards Independent Living and Employability for Persons with Disabilites. Social Workers and Professional Support Workers from Agenzija Sapport participated in this second project which aimed towards improving independent living and employment opportunities for persons with a disability. The beneficiaries were exposed to practices, procedures and developments adopted by foreign agencies within this field, thus allowing skills development to the benefit of local service users.

The placements under these two projects took place in host organisations in Ireland, UK, Lithuania, Sweden and Wales. The two projects were successfully selected through the National Agency, European Union Programme Agency (EUPA). The aim of the EUPA has always been to support Maltese individuals and entities in availing themselves of funding under the various educational programmes provided by the European Commission.

This project has been funded with the support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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