Speaking at the press conference to launch the project, KNZ President Jean Paul De Lucca said the idea will give youths aged 14-18 the opportunity to participate in their local council actively. The initiative is short term and will extend from July to November, partly because of the scholastic commitments of many of the youths.
The local councils that have taken part in the project will advertise the LYCP among youths from their locality. Those who apply will take part in a general assembly that will elect a chairman and set the agenda they would like to discuss.
The assembly will then split into various workshops, each of which will elect its own chairman and secretary. The workshops will treat the matters on the agenda in detail. At the end of the term, the workshops will assess their work in a final general assembly. At this point Mr De Lucca encouraged the local councils to implement at least one of the proposals made by the Local Youth Councils, in order to encourage the process.
Mr De Lucca thanked the local councils that pledged their support towards the project. KNZ had originally planned to have some 10 councils, however since 11 had applied and all seemed very keen on the idea, it was decided to accept all.
The project is an educational one, he explained. It will give youths from these localities the opportunity to learn, informally, on a number of levels. The project aims at promoting active citizenship and fostering leadership, he said, and will also provide the participants with an opportunity to experience the political system first hand.
The launch was attended by the Minister of Education, Youth and Employment Louis Galea and the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici as well as the Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri together with a number of mayors and councillors.
Minister Galea praised KNZ’s initiative, and committed his full support, offering both the local councils and the KNZ help from the ministry with the promotion of this project.
“We are sowing the seeds for something that, if done properly, should have a positive impact on Maltese democracy,” he said, encouraging the mayors present to mobilise all their contacts and resources to promote the project.
Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici echoed Dr Galea’s appeal, saying that KNZ and the local councils had the challenge to make this project work in order attract more councils.