Cohesion Building Through Cooperation

CORE Platform VOPs 2019 Project ‘LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER: COHESION BUILDING THROUGH COOPERATION’ 

Project design & development: 
Maria-Gabriele Doublesin,
Intercultural Community Counsellor & Intercultural Competence Development

Project Chair: 
Helga Ellul,
President CORE Platform

Project coordinator: 
Matteo Privitelli,
Executive CORE Platform

This project is to improve community cohesion by helping to bridge silos between various voluntary organisations, the business sector and marginalized communities. Fostering cooperation between all sectors of society is key for this project. ‘Learn to Work Together: Cohesion Building Through Cooperation’ strives to encourage prospective participants to work together to help communities move away from bias, discrimination and marginalization. The point that we want to get across through this project is the importance of moving away from working in isolation, carrying out decisions and tasks single-handedly and to start looking at effective ways to form partnerships and to stimulate better co-operation and networking between voluntary organisations, the business sector and local communities.

For this reason, this project seeks to bring together VOs addressing issues related to cultural diversity, social inclusion and cohesion building, representatives from the business sector, academia and Governmental institutions. Doing so, VOs will be given the opportunity to discuss and share issues they encounter and to inspire each other to develop new potential initiatives and projects for the benefit of isolated communities which in turn can potentially also enhance Malta’s economy. At the end of the project a report, including suggestions on how VOs and the business sector can cooperate with Government will be presented to the respective authorities.

The article on the project published by The Times of Malta on Sunday 25th August 2019 can be found by clicking here. 
 
The full text can be found below.
 
CORE Platform launched ‘Learn to Work Together: Cohesion Building Through Cooperation’ this year to enhance cross-sector collaboration.

The project is funded by the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme (VOPS), an initiative of the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE). VOPS is managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS), and financially assists projects that can make a real difference to local communities.

‘Learn to Work Together’ is designed by Maria-Gabriele Doublesin (Intercultural Community Counsellor and Intercultural Competence Development), chaired by Helga Ellul (president of CORE Platform) and coordinated by Matteo Privitelli (executive of CORE Platform). The team believes that social cohesion and the Maltese economy stand to improve by bridging the business sector and voluntary organisations (VOs).

Working in isolation – in “silos”, as it were – does not benefit the objectives or integrity of civil society or the business sector. To the contrary, developing strong bonds between companies and VOs or NGOs (non-governmental organisations) nudges communities away from prejudice, bias, discrimination and marginalisation.

Under the umbrella of CORE Platform, ‘Learn to Work Together’ is one of the organisation’s latest push towards impactful CSR in Malta. Founded in September 2015 the organisation lives and breathes corporate citizenship and CSR by linking businesses with NGOs and VOs.

Teaming up with Mrs Doublesin on ‘Learn to Work Together’ means a bright future lies ahead for cross-sector cooperation on the island. From the outcome of research and needs identified during the consultative forum, Mrs Doublesin will develop and conduct a specialised training programme with the aim of enhancing cross-sector collaboration.

CORE Platform is a national partner of CSR Europe and continues to go from strength to strength, by also currently working on a project leading to the development of a National Action Plan on CSR for the island, as Malta is the only EU Member Statewhere this framework is missing.

This plan will provide guidelines to Maltese businesses on how to become more engaged in their local communities and on how to become more responsible and sustainable.

Former CEO of Playmobil Malta and founder of the consultancy Advise Ltd, CORE Platform president Ellul has paved the way to success. Fostering knowledge- and expertise-sharing has generated exciting results, both for the organisation and for local communities and businesses.

To kickstart cooperation, a consultative roundtable was held earlier this year, which was well attended by governmental organisations, academia, NGOs, unions and businesses.

Mrs Doublesin posed the following questions: What helps and what hinders cross-sector collaboration? What are the biggest challenges, and what will improve cross-sector collaboration?

The roundtable revealed that collaboration is thwarted by a lack of information on NGO activities, time, education programmes promoting active citizenship and entrepreneurship, and, transparency about funding. Things are exacerbated by working in isolation, limited audience pools, and prejudice and stiff competition among businesses and NGOs.

The project has now entered its research phase to explore the revelations and develop training that facilitates more active citizenship, stronger entrepreneurial spirit and increased transparency between the business and community sectors.

The belief is that information sharing about products and services offered by VOs will enhance cooperation and reduce NGOs’ dependence on charity and fundraising.

The training programme and research report will be presented to the respective authorities at the stakeholders’ meeting to show how community organisations and businesses can better cooperate – both together and with the government.

CORE Platform invites people to participate in the training programme, and it hopes that the VOPS-funded project will spark new initiatives that promote cohesion building and social inclusion to benefit isolated communities and Malta’s economy.

As part of our VOPs 2019 project “Learn To Work Together: Cohesion Building Through Cooperation”, we offer a specifically designed training programme for organisations within and outside the voluntary sector, including the business sector, related to cultural diversity, social inclusion, and cohesion building. The content of this training programme is aimed to assist relevant stakeholders in their work by introducing new skills to effectively work together, put expertise into action, and learn how to effectively draw on each other’s potential to enhance community cohesion.

For these workshops, CORE Platform partnered with Ms Maria-Gabriele Doublesin, who is an expert on interculturalism and social inclusion. You can find her website here: https://intercultural.com.mt

This training programme will consist of 3 consecutive three-hour workshops over the period of three months.

Therefore, we kindly request you to give us the pleasure of your participation in this training programme. The agenda of all three workshops can be found below.

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WORKSHOP 1: CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION: A MULTILEVELED SYSTEM – Understanding the dynamics when collaborating across different sectors

Date, Time & Venue: Wednesday 20th November 2019 from 16:00-19:00 at the FHRD Training Centre, Tigne Point, Sliema

15:30 – 16:00 Registration and Coffee

16:00 – 16:45 Theoretical Foundations and Presentation of Working Questions

16:45 – 17:00 Coffee break and formation of working groups

17:00 – 18:00 Group Work

18:00 – 18:45 Rapporteurs’ notes and Q&A

18:45 – 19:00 Closing remarks, networking, and refreshments

To register your attendance for the first workshop, kindly RSVP to matteo.privitelli@core.org.mt by Monday 18th November 2019.

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WORKSHOP 2: UNDERSTANDING INCLUSIVE PROCESSES TO DEVELOP INCLUSIVE STRUCTURES

Date, Time & Venue: Wednesday 8th January 2020 from 15:30-19:00 at the FHRD Training Centre, Tigne Point, Sliema

15:30 – 16:00 Registration and Coffee

16:00 – 16:45 Tools to bridge sector boundaries and establish common grounds,

followed by presentation of working questions

16:45 – 17:00 Coffee break and formation of working groups

17:00 – 18:00 Group Work

18:00 – 18:45 Rapporteurs’ notes and Q&A

18:45 – 19:00 Closing remarks, networking, and refreshments

To register your attendance for the second workshop, kindly RSVP to matteo.privitelli@core.org.mt by Monday 6th January 2020.

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WORKSHOP 3: MAINTAINING COLLABORATION: KEEPING CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION SUSTAINABLE – This last workshop of our training programme will draw on the theoretical foundations and the output of the previous two workshops and insights gained.

Date, Time & Venue: Wednesday 22nd January 2020 from 15:30-19:00 at the FHRD Training Centre, Tigne Point, Sliema

15:30 – 16:00 Registration and Coffee

16:00 – 16:45 Presentation, recap, and working question

16:45 – 17:00 Coffee break and formation of working groups

17:00 – 18:00 Group Work

18:00 – 18:45 Rapporteurs’ notes and Q&A

18:45 – 19:00 Closing remarks, networking, and refreshments

To register your attendance for the third workshop, kindly RSVP to matteo.privitelli@core.org.mt by Monday 20th January 2020.

“This project has been funded through the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector supported by the Ministry for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights (MIVC)”.