Guardian of Future Generations

14/09/2026

FSWS-ACTS × The Guardian | From Listening to Action

📍 What happens when we listen to older people?

Our collaboration with Foundation for Social Welfare Services began with three workshops with older people living in Valletta, exploring how they experience, imagine and navigate their city.

But listening should lead somewhere.

Building on the research, the Guardian of Future Generations worked with MA Architectural students at the Faculty for the Built Environment - University of Malta to translate what we heard into possible spatial solutions.

The ideas were then presented back to the older participants.

We listened. We took their experiences seriously. And we showed them what their contribution could inspire.

Two proposals have the potential to become real interventions in Valletta:

🎭 A moveable theatre — creating opportunities for performance, gathering and community interaction.

🌿 A wooden gathering space — a place to pause, meet and spend time together.

For us, this is what intergenerational collaboration means: bringing lived experience, research and new ideas together to imagine better places.

Because listening matters. But listening that leads to action matters even more.

Sostenibilità Sustainable Development Malta

04/09/2026

As Chairperson of the Guardian of Future Generations, my role is to safeguard the wellbeing, rights and dignity of all generations — including those yet to come.

Older people are not a “time bomb” waiting to happen. They are part of our present, our communities and our future. Ageing is not a crisis to be managed; it is a reality that requires us to rethink how we design our society.

Yet older people can increasingly become invisible — spatially, socially and economically. Their contributions, experiences and knowledge are too often overlooked, while their needs are framed primarily through dependency and care.

This collaboration with the Foundation for Social Welfare Services sought to challenge these perceptions and create space for older people to be seen differently: as active, creative, knowledgeable and engaged members of society.

The data collected clearly demonstrates this. Through their everyday experiences, the research captured not only their worries and anxieties, but also their creativity, aspirations, resilience and desire to remain connected and involved.

At its heart, this work is about visibility and recognition. It asks us to listen to older people, not simply as recipients of services, but as citizens with knowledge, agency and a valuable role to play in shaping the present and the future.

An ageing population is not a problem that belongs to tomorrow. It is part of the society we are building today.

28/03/2026

13/03/2026

I am proud to mark an important milestone following 3-years of collaborative work on the community project “Our Community, Our Spaces – Healthy, Playful and Secure Together.” A project that embodies the Guardian’s vision of implementing a systems-based and sustainable approach to wellbeing, for the present and the future.

This was achieved by carefully listening to the lived experiences of residents in Ħal Safi, Żurrieq, and Ħal Kirkop through 1 year of extensive qualitative and participatory research. More than 220 residents—including children, early teens, adults, parents, older persons, educators, professionals, and community members—shared their perspectives on what , , , , and truly mean in their everyday lives.

Together, and in collaboration with all relevant government organizations, we co-developed the first multi-layered social map that captures places of wellbeing, safety and unsafety, necessity, and meaning across these localities. This will now be presented to the Government to help inform future planning and policy decisions.

Key message: If we want policies that truly serve both present and , we must embed social thinking from the start! Wellbeing, play, health, and a sense of security should not be an afterthought in planning—they should be central to how we design our communities with an equal weight to technical and economic criteria.

This project demonstrates what becomes possible when community voices meaningfully inform policy, helping us move from short-term solutions to long-term, people-centred .

Thank you Gabriel Caruana Foundation for leading the research and all the government organizations that supported the project throughout.

Special thanks go to the people who made this project successful.



Sustainable Development Malta | Sostenibilità | Rachael Scicluna

09/03/2026

It was a privilege to participate in the inaugural Congress for the Right to Well-Being of Present and Future Generations in the Canary Islands—an event that culminated in the launch of the Declaration on the Right to Well-Being of Present and Future Generations and its formal signing by the Minister at the close of the conference.

Convened by the Gobierno de Canarias through IRLab - Canarias 2030, this timely and significant congress demonstrated a clear commitment to forward-looking governance and the protection of the well-being of both current and future generations.

I was honoured to be invited to contribute to the programme and to share my work on the community initiative Our Communiites, Our Spaces - Healthy, Secure and Playful Together. It was a valuable opportunity to exchange perspectives with a distinguished panel of experts on how we can build ecosystems that meaningfully connect community voices with policy, politics, and society to shape healthier, more inclusive environments.

Moments like these remind us that safeguarding the well-being of future generations requires bold leadership, collaboration, and the courage to translate vision into action.

Sophie Howe, Marisa Tejedor, Lourdes Aguiló, Castañon del Valle, Dr Rachael Marie Scicluna, PhD, David Curbelo Pérez, PhD Ariadna Hernando Pérez, Jorge Cruz, Rubén Miranda, Rafael Betancor V., Francisco J. García Rodríguez, Eliezer Marrero Correa, Marta María Domínguez-Herrera, Sustainable Development Malta

Read the Declaration here
https://www3.gobiernodecanarias.org/noticias/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Declaracion-sobre-las-generaciones-futuras-de-Canarias-05032026.pdf

https://www.europapress.es/islas-canarias/noticia-clavijo-rubrica-declaracion-canarias-garantizar-politicas-protejan-proximas-generaciones-20260305185844.html

28/01/2026

There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing Our Community, Our Spaces – Healthy, Playful and Secure Together come to life 💚

After 3 years — including a full year of listening and learning through qualitative research — this community project has reached fruition.

We took time to understand what people truly want and need, and the challenges they face every day in their neighbourhoods.

, , , and became the heart of the project, shaping an integrated that connects Safi, Kirkop, and Żurrieq.

Too often, urban planning forgets and focuses only on infrastructure. But cities and spaces are built for people.

This project shows what’s possible when policy meets community — weaving play, health, and security into a shared vision for the future.

Thank you Gabriel Caruana Foundation for leading the research and all the public bodies that supported the project throughout.

Special thanks goes to the people which without them this project wouldn't have been successful.




Sostenibilità Sustainable Development Malta

19/01/2026