CARITAS MALTA

Diaconia
Reaching persons in need in the parish

"What you do with one of the least of my brothers you have done it to me"

What is Diaconia?

Diaconia means a concrete commitment to service for others.
The Diaconia, which the Church fosters, has its origin in the love of God himself as reflected in the Trinity. We as Church are able to partake of the community of God¡¦s love through Christ who initiated the new culture of love.
Diaconia ought to be the outcome of the Eucharist celebrated by the Church, whereby we share with others that which we received, Christ Himself.
Diaconia implies sharing with people in need. Instead of labouring for the needy, we need to be willing to work hand in hand.
Diaconia means action. An organised service makes it possible for a person in need to see and experience tangibly God¡¦s love for mankind.

At the last supper, after washing the feet of the Apostles Jesus said,¡§ Just as I have loved you, you too must love one another¡¨ Jn 13:15

What is Diaconia Commission?

History of Diaconia Commissions in Malta
The 1985 Pastoral plan states, ¡§ In every parish there will be¡K commissions that correspond with the main tasks of the Church: Liturgy, Catechesis, Diaconia and the Family Commission¡¨. Since 1986 Caritas Malta has started the process of setting up and developing various Diaconia Commissions in the parishes.

How does it operate?
Role
The Diaconia Commission in the parish is responsible for the social and charitable sectors of parish ministry.

Aims:

Raise the awareness of the Christian community of their responsibility to help those in their midst who are in difficulty and in need to guide them in order to get involved or to coordinate and collaborate with this commission.
Unite, strengthen, and coordinate the parish groups, which are involved in social voluntary work. These can include also various prayer groups and movements who involve them selves in such work.
Whenever necessary, establish on a parish level, new voluntary services for the welfare of the persons in need.
Network with other parish Diaconia Commissions to enrich the quality of services offered by sharing resources and experiences

Formation of the commission
Parish priest / His Delegate
Leader / representative of each movement / parish group involved in voluntary social work
Leader / representative of each sub-group within the Commission (Social Clubs for the elderly persons etc)
Parish Social Awareness officer
Social Needs Research and Development officer
Four persons from the above will fill in the roles of Chairperson, Communication officer, Accounts & Book keeping Officer, Caritas Liaison Person

Tasks
Meetings
The commission meets regularly to pray, discuss and evaluate needs, developments and interventions

Work on a long-term strategic plan (3 years).

To identify the social needs in the parish
Capacity Building - identify and develop the resources
To prioritise on the needs to be addressed
To organise the interventions and services offered
To develop a system of ongoing evaluation and development

Set up a system of coordination

Each group is to submit an annual report about its social and charity work
Forum / Discussion to avoid overlap and gaps

Annual Action Plan
To include specific aims
To include specific objectives to be reached in a particular year
To include a budget plan
To include groups / persons responsible for implementing the objectives
To include specific action / tasks
To include target / completion dates
To include contingency plans were applicable.

Communicate with and update Parish Pastoral Council
The commission is to inform and update the parish priest and the Parish Pastoral Council periodically about its plans, objectives reached and future developments.

How can we develop Diaconia in our Parish?

Development strategy
Strategy (1) for parishes that already have a Diaconia Commission and wish to develop it further
1. An initial meeting with the Parish Priest;
2. A meeting with the Parish Pastoral Council, core group of people involved in social and charitable work and the Parish Diaconia Commission (where it exists);
3. Where the commission does not exist strategy two (below) is followed;
4. An initial small survey on poverty is worked out. The questionnaire is distributed among the Parish Pastoral Council, core group of people involved in social and charitable work and the Parish Diaconia Commission (where it exists);
5. Assisting the parish commission in scientific research at grassroots level (Poverty Watch project with Discern);
6. An exercise of prioritising social needs;
7. The Social and Charitable Action Parish Development Project (SCAD Project) is offered to the parish. The project is offered to five parishes concurrently.
8. An evaluation of resources and the creation of an Action Plan;
9. The recruitment of parish volunteers;
10. The training of parish volunteers;
11. Set up services, programmes and projects
12. Monitoring of the services / projects commenced;
13. Evaluation process of the services / projects implemented;
14. Caritas Malta continues to offer its help and support until the parish commission is able to function independently. However, Caritas Malta will continue to monitor the parish for future developments, needs and vision.
Strategy 2 (where the Parish Diaconia Commission is non-existent):
1. Initial meeting/s with Parish Priest and core people involved in social and charitable work in the parish:
1.1. To identify any services and projects being done in the parish;
1.2. To identify any structure/s and system/s being used (capacity Building)
1.3. To help the parish priest, Parish Pastoral Council, core group of people involved in social and charitable work become more aware of the social needs;
1.4. To identify resources (groups and individuals and material) for the possibility of creating a parish Diaconia Commission;
1.5. To help the parish priest, Parish Pastoral Council, core group of people involved in social and charitable work become aware of the need to develop a structured and systematic approach to social and charitable work in the parish (capacity Building)
2. Initially, Caritas Malta trains these persons (together with the parish priest) regarding the vision of DIACONIA;
2.1. The possibility of support from a neighbouring parish with a functioning Diaconia Commission;
Continue to follow strategy 1 from point 4 onwards.

What is the role of Caritas Malta in the Diaconia Commissions?
The role of Caritas Malta as the Church Secretariat for Social and Charitable Action is to act as a coordinator and developer of work among the sick, the older persons, persons with special needs, drug users and other people in difficulty.

Caritas Malta helps the Diaconia Commissions to develop a structured and systematic approach to social and charitable work.

Parish Projects

What are the aims of the Community Outreach Unit?

• To establish the social needs of the community;
• To draw up a plan of action according to priority needs;
• To develop the human resources through periodical training;
• To coordinate and develop existing services

How does the Community Outreach Unit work?

Monitoring Phase:

1. Each parish is visited every two years
2. Caritas Malta will visit three parishes in each month
3. During the monitoring and support meeting the Community Outreach Unit team will meet with the parish priest, with the Parish Council, with the core group of people involved in social and charitable work in the parish and with the Diaconia Commission were existent
4. Present and explain the Caritas Malta strategy and system re Diaconia development
5. Data and information is collected in order to build an updated database on resources available in each parish. By resources we understand groups, individuals and other relevant sources that input in social and charitable work in the parish). The same data and information will be used for future development of the same parish and to enhance networking and sharing with other parishes.
6. A small survey re social problems in the parish is conducted among persons involved in social and charitable work. Besides these memebers pertaining to religious groups, the survey is also conducted among other entities such as; local inspector, local lawyer, local doctor, Head of schools etc… The aim is to have an overview of the perceived poverty issues pertaining to the parish.
7. Discuss current structures and systems (Capacity Building) being used (training, support and supervision, meetings, reports, evaluations etc)
8. Identify possible year for development of Diaconia.
9. Follow up meetings. Further meetings might need to be held especially to gather and discuss further information regarding the survey and resources database.
10. A report will be issued by Caritas Malta regarding the visit and the information gathered. The report will include the following:
 Report of visit (outcome)
 Survey results
 Resources data
 Recommendations

Development Phase:

1. Each year five parishes are invited to take up the Social and Charitable Action Parish Development Project. The selection is done on a first come first serve basis. Therefore it is up to the parishes to approach caritas Malta to undertake the project. The project includes:

• Social Issues Awareness and Referral Information Workshop
• Capacity Building Project
• Catechesis and Spirituality of Diaconia Course C&SD Course

Social Issues Awareness and Referral Information Workshop

Aim & Objectives: To create awareness and referral information on various social Issues.

Sessions:
1. Course Introduction and overview
2. HIV /AIDS prevention and referral for help
3. Drug and Alcohol prevention and referral for help
4. Usury prevention and referral for help
5. Gambling
6. Epilepsy information and referral for help
7. Information on referring to helping agencies and Caritas Malta Support Groups
8. Programmes and services for the older person
9. Disability – Commission for Disabled
10. Widows and separated
11. Child abuse
12. Single mothers / Domestic Violence
13. Bereavement / palliative care
14. refuges
15. mental Health
16. Evaluation of seminar

Capacity Building Project

Aim & Objectives: To develop a structured and systematic approach to social and charitable work in the parish

A Workshops
1. Training on developing structures and systems
2. Training on setting up and sustaining support groups
3. Training on how to organise and create awareness on poverty
4. Training on Volunteers management (see appendix 3)

B Volunteers management course
1. Recruitment, selection and induction
2. Training and development
3. Support and supervision
4. Appraisals

Catechesis and spirituality of Diaconia one day retreat

Aim
 To provide some basic Formation and Training in the church social teachings and the Christian perspective of the parish Diaconia to the parish volunteers.

Objectives:
 To provide A day seminar and a one hour lecture

Action-Research Project with Discern
Every parish in the development phase will be able to carry out a research project on a social problem/s which is / are marked as a priority in their parish.

This Action-Research Project will be commissioned by the parish to the Discern Institute. Caritas Malta will help the parish by offering advice and support in recruiting and training the volunteers to undertake the project.

Action Research definitions:
• The research revises itself
• Action and research take place concurrently
• The duration of project is on going

Aim
The aim of the project is to help the persons in need in the parish to handle most of there problems and difficulties as independently as possible.

Developing resources – 1st step
• The first step as a project is to study, analyse and develop the parish resources, so that in turn they will be able to develop action to help the persons in need in the parish.

Identifying social problems and priorities – 2nd step
• Conducting a questionnaire with the parish social entities and with other entities in the locality / parish. (see monitoring above for further details)

Addressing and alleviating the social problems in the parish – 3rd step
Following the first two steps, the parish should be ready to take a further step – that of analysing in a qualitative way the priority social problems and start to develop interventions concurrently. The interventions need to be based on the strengths and competencies of the parish. (For example the parish cannot address a gambling problem even though it may be the number one problem, unless it has the resources and the competences to do so.)

For further information please contact:
diaconia@caritasmalta.org