MEUSAC has finalised the implementation of the Engage project – ‘Enhancing Stakeholder Participation in Social Dialogue’ – which is part-financed by the European Social Fund.

MEUSAC embarked on this project to:

• identify the most effective engagement methodologies in order to provide a service which meets the needs of stakeholders;

• invest in Government’s services by providing the necessary skills to the MEUSAC team on how stakeholder capacity may be enhanced;

• enhance the capacity of stakeholders through training and increased awareness on the processes, tools and opportunities for increased stakeholder participation.

The project started off in 2018 with a stakeholder engagement analyis and an awareness-raising media campaign. In the beginning of 2019, the MEUSAC team received intense training in a number of areas to up their skills in a bid to improve on the agency’s services.

The final phase of the project started in the last quarter of 2019 with capacity building sessions for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the areas of education, employment and social policy. The topics that were covered were stakeholder engagement; more effective use of communication tools; and accessing EU funding opportunities. These capacity building sessions were then followed by mentoring sessions which were led by MEUSAC staff.

A final half-day seminar was held on March 10. During the seminar, participants had the opportunity to discuss social dialogue issues in Malta and participate in one of the following workshops: (i) Effective participation in social dialogue; (ii) Networking between stakeholders with common interests; and (iii) Effective formulation of policy papers to feed into the national position on proposed EU legislation.