Vote, irrelevant ident

is also a by-product of the oversensitised society we are slowly entering. We as KNZ need to try to organise not just events, but movements and campaigns that actually hit home with young people because they can see it and say “this actually matters”.

One thing we are going to try to focus on for example is Erasmus and exchange opportunities. These experiences have really helped me grow as a person; but then I come to the realisation that nobody really knows how to go on these trips. The reality of the situation is that there are dozens of international opportunities that come out every month for Maltese, and nobody applies for them.

We are going to try to bridge the gap and show that these are opportunities which one can genuinely grow from. Our branding and PR, for instance, are going to be two of the biggest things we will work on to improve, as social media is so important for communication and connection. At the same time, we are going to work with our member organisations to find common synergies so that instead of everyone working in isolation for their goals, we can pool our resources and try to reach bigger goals and more people.

We want to build a platform where every young person in Malta and Gozo can literally go and find all the international opportunities available to them. That is one of the ways we are looking at – to bridge that gap which will hopefully solve the apathetic issue.

Would you say though that many Maltese are too comfortable in their own bubble? If so, how would you go about pushing them to break out of that comfort zone?

This comfort zone issue is more of a psychological thing; we are always looking for that comfort zone. That is how the mind works; your primary goal is to ensure your safety, your comfort and your survival – it is imprinted in us to find our comfort zone and safe space.

Unfortunately for us humans, the only way we can grow is if we breach that comfort zone. I cannot go to every single young person in Malta and tell them how to breach their comfort zone – but one of the fundamental points you need to try is to tell those young people what they would gain by breaching that zone and by not limiting themselves to the box they are in.

As a national youth council we have the duty to try to communicate this in every field. There are certain skills we do not allow ourselves to experiment with – not because we do not want to – but because we are scared. That is very applicable to young people in public speaking for instance; statistically it has been shown that it is the number one fear, meaning that it is not because people do not want to do it, but s because they are afraid of doing it. I had severe public speaking anxiety and had it not been for someone who pushed me out of my comfort zone, I would not be speaking to you today.

I think we have the obligation to try to show what one might gain from experiencing the world out there. We need to prove that if you remain in your comfort zone, the only person that is going to lose out is yourself.

The new executive has a two-year term in office; what are your main aims going to be?

We want to continue on the work done in the past two years when we essentially rebuilt everything internally. I am lucky that the past executive under Michael Piccinino’s presidency focused on making sure there was no internal conflict, and on consolidating relations with all sides of the spectrum.

As president, I now have the opportunity to focus on external issues; PR, branding, and social media will be one focus, bringing opportunities – whether national or international – directly to the individual will be another. We want to bridge the gap between member organisations, local entities, national entities and the national youth council so that there are common synergies for us to work towards mutual goals. International cooperation will remain a priority while in terms of youth policy we are building a new policy office which will be more proactive.

Bridging that gap however is, I think, the most important thing. By delivering our opportunities to everyone and by finding a purpose, we can find common synergies to reach our goals together. This is the direction we want to take.