Maltese children consulted on open spaces in their communities

More than 900 Maltese children were consulted on open spaces in their communities, between 2019 and 2020.

The consultation was led by the Children’s and Young People’s Council of the Eurochild member – the Maltese Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society.

Its aim was to address the problem of children not having enough spaces to meet and feel part of a community. The initiative was supported by four Maltese Ministries and involved physical and online children’s meetings, as well as an online survey.

It turned out that a majority of children were unhappy with the available open spaces; they were concerned about the environment and stressed the importance of play and for open spaces to be inclusive and accessible to all children. Their ideas and drawings for improvements were given to a professional designer to build a prototype for an open space that children envisaged.

‘A non-littered place, a place for people’

In its conclusion, the consultation report, Progett Komunitarja, said: “Ultimately, the aim of Progett Komunitarja was perhaps summarised in one statement by a child respondent in the online survey, as he/she described the benefits of open space as ‘a non-littered place, a place for people, and a growing place for plants and trees – in sum, a community in which humankind is in harmony with each other Mother Earth.”

Martina, a member of the Maltese children’s and young people’s council and member of Eurochild’s Children’s Council developed an accessible version of the report with outcomes of the project.

Click here for full report (in PDF)

Source: EuroChild