Coleiro Preca underlines importance of early intervention against poverty

The minister for Social Solidarity Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, this morning met with social partners during an MCESD meeting in which she presented the LEAP project. 

Entitled “LEAP! Building the future together by promoting social mobility,” the initiative aims to strengthen the Social Welfare sector and tackle the risk of poverty rate, which was on a steady increase during the past years.

Addressing the MCESD, Coleiro Preca underlined her ministry’s willingness to work and cooperate with social partners, since “poverty affects every level of society, even those who are not at risk of poverty themselves.”

“The Social Solidarity Ministry was known as just a ‘reactive’ ministry rather than an active one. But early intervention against poverty is the best way to tackle these social problems. Recent social indicators are simply shocking, such as the fact that 26% of children are at risk of poverty,” Coleiro Preca said.

The minister said how the problem should be tackled both within a national context through government policies, as well as within a European context through the Social Investment Package.

“Ultimately, success is not measured by how much millions were spent but rather through how these were invested and the results achieved.”

She said the development of Family Resource Centres were key to progress, and an important part of the reform in social welfare that is currently being devised.

The MCESD meeting continued with presentations from local expert Professor Angela Abela and Maria Rauch, a consultant within Coleiro Preca’s ministry.