Who We Are

MFOPD is the national umbrella organisation for the disability sector and is a member of the European Disability Forum (EDF), Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, the European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) and Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum and CITIZENStandard.

It also represents the voice of persons with disability on the relevant government structures, such as the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), among others. Maltese entities we are members of : Civil Society Committee within MCESD, a member organisation of MEUSAC and of the Platform of Human Rights in Malta (PHROM)

Membership within the MFOPD is open for organisations of and/or for persons with disability. Individual and corporate members are also accepted.

The Federation has 35 enrolled organisations within its umbrella structure and was also the catalyst for another national association working for the betterment of the persons with a disability’ in the employment sector – namely the Malta Association of Supported Employment (MASE). This umbrella organisation plays a very important role as it is the platform where all organisations have the opportunity to inform themselves and support and show solidarity with each other.

On this platform all issues for all different impairments are equally important and are accordingly tackled on a national level by the Federation.

MFOPD does its utmost to support all issues brought forward by its member organisations. It is the official civil society’s voice at national, EU and Commonwealth level and is fully represented within the relevant structures of government and administration as the official voice in question. MFOPD is constantly involved in European events linked to issues that impact persons with disabilities. It is a constant watchdog on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability locally. As yet, MFOPD, the national umbrella organisation for the disability sector, is not part of the independent mechanism to monitor the implementation of the UNCRPD in Malta.

MFOPD has, throughout the years, embarked on various initiatives, both locally and abroad, in favour of persons with disability. Since its foundation in 1970, MFOPD has been instrumental in:

Ensuring that society in general understands and upholds the rights and needs of persons with disability and to ensure that past stigmas, misconceptions and outright injustices and lack of social, economic, cultural and political integration for persons with disabilities remain a thing of the past.
That the government authorities focus much more effort on the rights and needs of persons with disability. MFOPD’s lobbying has been noted by the authorities and, gradually, from a department responsible for the ‘handicapped’, government institutions were progressively set up which included a Parliamentary Secretariat focused on our needs, a Commission and a Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the total independence and focusing of the specific government agency working in the disability sector, the enactment of various laws, regulations and legal notices focusing on the rights and needs of the disability sector and the presence of specific board and authority members within government agencies and institutions which represent the disability sector within civil society.

Naturally, there is so much more to be done in our field. The rights and positive advancement of the disability sector in Malta can only be achieved by a strong national disability federation which works hard for the rights of its members, not only by means of local initiatives but also by means of various projects, including EU funded projects, which further our cause.