MEA wins NESA Award

The Malta Employers’ Association has won the National Enterprise Support Award through its submission of an application based on the project: Strengthening the Business Environment through Active Social Dialogue. This achievement is symbolic as it occurs at a time when the MEA is celebrating its fifty years since it was founded. Throughout this time it has always been a major player in social dialogue in Malta. This is the first time that MEA has participated in this competition.

The Association based its application on the activities organised during the past years, including the ESF outreach programme to Micro Enterprises; the organisation of courses and training sessions; the Television programme; and the establishment of the SME help desk eighteen months ago. All these activities have helped to build the professional capacity of employers and also to strengthen social dialogue and stable industrial relations in Malta, which is one of the key ingredients for competitiveness. For example, the project ‘Capacity Building for Equipping and Representing Micro Business Employers’ included 22 training seminars which were attended by 235 local entrepreneurs. This project, which was co-financed with the European Social Fund, also included an outreach exercise with no less than 750 micro employers, and more than 6000 copies of our Human Resources information booklet were distributed. All this has been achieved with a lean secretariat and support from council members, and, at the end of the day, the real winner is not MEA, but employers who have benefitted from these services.

Through this award, MEA shall be participating in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in November. The secretariat is currently working on a submission for this event.

Such recognition gives us further incentive and energy to think of innovative ways to improve the services that we offer our members.