Recognising the common daily challenges shared by sportsmen and women and the disabled, some 50 sports personalities have committed themselves to raising funds for the Eden Foundation’s job placement scheme.
The initiative took the initial form of a symbolic walk yesterday morning along The Strand in Sliema, for which sports personalities and members of parliament joined the Eden Foundation’s young adults as an expression of support for those with developmental disabilities who are aspiring to find or retain employment.
Every year the Eden Foundation needs to raise Lm400,000 through donations and fundraising activities, while Lm50,000 will be required by the Foundation’s Employment Training and Support Programme alone.
To this end, some 50 of Malta’s top sportsmen and women, who have excelled in their respective discipline, have committed themselves to raising funds through their own personal initiatives.
Yesterday’s walk was comprised of a mixed group of 80 people, including MPs Joe Abela and Marie Louise Coleiro and Education, Employment and Youth Minister Louis Galea, sports personalities and many disabled people marching to the beat of the Foundation’s percussion group Eku Tanbur.
The Employment Training and Support Programme is now in its 14th year and has helped 120 people with developmental disabilities find employment in a variety of jobs, 95 of whom have succeeded in retaining their jobs – some for 12 years.
An agreement between the Foundation and the government’s Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) sees 18 people with disabilities being referred to the Eden Foundation every year for training and job placement and while this agreement is subsidised, the subsidy only partially covers the expenses involved.
Progress in finding jobs for people with disabilities in Malta has been possible mainly through the Foundation having introduced its job coaching services and the setting up of the Eden Cooperative, which creates employment opportunities for those in need of ongoing support in order to perform well in a work environment.