Malta Youth Voluntary Overseas Grant Doubled to €30 Daily

Malta's Youth Voluntary Overseas scheme will now pay participants €30 per day, double the previous €15 rate, and raised the maximum grant from €2,500 to €3,650, Minister for Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector Julia Farrugia announced Thursday. She called the increase the first electoral promise from the 'Int Malta' manifesto fulfilled by her Ministry. The YVO scheme accepts volunteers aged 18 to 35 who commit to two weeks to three months of overseas work.

Grant funding covers expenses including insurance. Starting this year, organisations may assign a coordinator over 35 to manage projects, while volunteer age eligibility remains unchanged. mt and must go through a registered association complying with the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

The Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector administers fund disbursement. Since its inception nine years ago, the scheme has supported 182 young people from 43 Maltese and Gozitan voluntary organisations, with €227,000 invested. Volunteers have served in Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines, Cambodia, Paraguay and Peru, building schools, teaching, improving sanitary facilities, distributing food and running awareness campaigns on hygiene and health.

MCVS chief executive Mauro Pace Parascandalo welcomed the scheme's enthusiasm and called for more applications. Jake Micallef Arpa and Amy Caruana, members of Youths Marsaskala, attended the announcement and spoke about the scheme's personal significance to them as a couple planning to volunteer abroad together. "Volunteering abroad, especially where people face great hardships, is a very noble experience," Farrugia said.