Chief Executive Officer
| A graduate of St Peter's College, Oxford, CEO Alfred GRIXTI has presided over the biggest period of continuous expansion in the 27-year history of the Foundation. Indeed, when he was tasked to lead the FSWS in 2014 it had a budget of only € 10.4 million which almost trebled to € 28.28 million for 2022. This money has been invested in more human resources to offer new and improved services by the Foundation. The FSWS now employs 968 employees as against 395 in 2013. More importantly, 78% of these employees are fully qualified professionals who do direct work with service users. An educator by profession, Alfred GRIXTI was an educational leader in the state school sector and also served as the Labour Mayor of Ħaż-Żebbuġ (Citta' Rohan). He is passionate about ensuring that no one is left behind and that the wealth created by Malta's growing economy is used to help the most vulnerable in society. Thus, on his watch, the FSWS introduced the Home-Based Family Therapy Service, new Community Services in Qormi, Rabat, Victoria (Gozo), Marsalforn, Marsaskala, Kirkop, Msida, Mosta and Fgura. The Foundation also employed Risk-Assessors for domestic violence victims, the 179 responders and full-timers for the SAV service and also established services in Gozo in order to address the ever-changing social needs of Maltese and Gozitan families.
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Director International Relations, Service Audits, Quality Assurance and Research
| Claudette Abela Baldacchino is Director International Relations, Service Audits, Quality Assurance and Research (IRSAQAR). Abela Baldacchino is a Former Member of the European Parliament. She also represented Malta as a Member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) of the EU where she held the position of Vice President of the PES Group in the CoR. She was also a member of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLARE) where she was also Vice President of the Socialist Group. Abela Baldacchino was Vice President of the Local Councils Association in Malta, served as the first President of the Southern Region and Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Qrendi. Abela Baldacchino has worked for many years in the media and current affairs. She believes in social justice, strives for equal opportunities and is an activist for women's rights. She holds a BA (Hons) in Social Administration and a Diploma in Social Studies (Women & Development). She is married to Kevin and they have two children Pinar and Arthur.
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Director Finance
| A Warranted Public Accountant and Auditor by profession, Mr Kevin Agius was conferred with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honours in accountancy by the University of Malta in 1991. He obtained his warrant to practice as a Certified Public Accountant by the Ministry of Finance in 1995, and in 2007 he was registered as an Auditor. Mr Agius spent most of his career as a Financial Controller in the private sector. From 2001 to 2008, he acted as a Tax Auditor at the Tax Compliance Unit. During his professional career, spanning over thirty years, Mr Agius has assisted a number of private businesses and Government entities in the area of Taxation and Management Accounting. He is a member of the Malta Institute of Accountants and the Malta Institute of Management.
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Director Human Resources, Training and Recruitment
| Director Human Resources, Training and Recruitment, Anthony Apap, MSc Training & HRM. Joined in the Social Sector with the Foundation for Social Welfare Services in February 2011, accountable for all HR Management at Corporate Level. Originally, vast experience in the Private Sector with leading companies with some 15 years' experience as Human Resources Manager with a local Gas Manufacturing Company and long years in Professional Training in Customer Care, HR Consultancy, Senior Positions Interviewer and Professional Development of Executives. Worked for a period of 5 years in telecommunication company in HR, Customer Care and back office with a leading private owned company. For a period of 5 years had own retail business dealing in garments and accessories for newborn children and expecting mothers. Managed to attain experience and qualification in textile material technology.
Throughout career, specialized in training primarily in short courses relating to critical thinking, dealing with stress, and challenging clients, communication at all levels and preparing Security Guards to become qualified and competent to work with VIPs. Carried out research and studied the dynamics of illiteracy and trained illiterate individuals to become literate for employment.
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Director Marketing and Communications
| Nathalie Attard Bishop is the Director of Marketing and Communications Department at FSWS. She joined the Foundation in June 2014. From a three-person department, Ms Attard Bishop grew the department so that she now leads a team of five graduates. Under her leadership, the Foundation gained a more professional appearance and was able to reach a level it had not before. This included the realisation of the new website, a professionally designed annual report, the production of numerous videos, conferences and events of a very high standard and the increase of our presence on various television and radio stations. Ms Attard Bishop holds a Master of Science in Management specialising in Marketing and has also graduated in Journalism from the University of Malta.
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Director Regulatory Compliance
| Jesmond Bonello is presently occupying the role of Director Regulatory Compliance within FSWS where he is mainly focusing on the SCSA standards and the Health & Safety of all FSWS premises. He is the former Director and President of the UHM-voice of the workers. A post which he occupied for 9 consecutive years in total he served for more than 20 years at the Union where he had different roles. He also occupied the role as board Director of the occupational health & safety Authority, the Retail Price index (NSO) and Employment Relations Board. He also represented UHM-voice of the workers at MCESD and the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, and in other European Fora such as the European Trade Union Confederation, the European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, European Federation of Public Services Employees, The World Organization of Workers, and the International Labour Organisation. He was born at Vittoriosa and studied at De La Salle up to secondary level and continued his studies at the New Lyceum
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Director Aġenzija Appoġġ
| Graziella Castillo joined FSWS (at that time SWDP) way back in 2000 after she finished her Bachelor`s Degree in Social Work. During the past 21 years, she worked in various services and assumed various roles within Agenzija Appogg from that of a social worker to that of a Director, a role she has taken up in January 2021. Through her managerial experience together with her warm and humble personality, Graziella has managed to build a strong collaborative network with various professionals and agencies. Through her various positions within the Agency, her ability to communicate to and with others have led her to reach a number of goals which continued to strengthen the current services and also introduced new services, with her ultimate aim to provide a holistic service to those who reach out for help. Enhancing one`s knowledge contributes towards a better service delivery, and with this in mind, Graziella seeks to enrich her experience by seeking new opportunities to learn and infact, she is currently reading for a Masters` Degree in Youth and Community Studies.
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Director Agency for Community and Therapeutic Services
| Thomas Galea was appointed Operations Director of ACTS in September of 2021. He started his career with the FSWS in 2008 as a social worker with Agenzija Sapport. In 2010 he joined Agenzija Sedqa's Community team and after that he held the post of leader within the residential rehabilitation services, formed part of the Sedqa's psychological team, and was subsequently appointed Operations Manager with the dual portfolios of Services Development and Residential Services. In 2015 he graduated as a systemic psychotherapist and has been practicing therapy since 2016. His areas of clinical and academic interest are addiction, intercultural relationships, narcissism, and domestic violence.
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Director Alternative Care Directorate
| Remenda Grech graduated as a social worker from the University of Malta in 2005 and joined the FSWS Child Protection Team in June of the same year. In her years at CPS she was also appointed a Co-ordinator within the team and specialised mostly in sexual abuse cases. Remenda was then appointed a leader of the Cottonera Community Service, Paolo Freire Institute and Home-Start Malta in 2010 and was responsible for the social work team and also led various projects within the same community. She was appointed a Service Manager in 2016 until January 2020 when she took over the Directorship of Directorate for Alternative Care. Remenda remains National Chair of Home-Start Malta and represents FSWS as a case co-ordinator within International Social Services. She is currently reading for a Masters in Mediation within the Faculty of Laws, Malta.
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Director Child Protection Directorate
| Steve Libreri has occupied the position of Director for the Directorate for the Child Protection Services since 2020. However, throughout his career he has participated in many roles that work with children and families. A year after his graduation in 2008, Steve was transferred to the CPS as he appeared to posses the disposition to work with abusive families. Steve used this early experience as inspiration to other ventures that he took up outside the FSWS, where he strived to develop interventions and services that served families to improve parent-child relationships. Following a good streak in the private sector, Steve eventually felt the vocation to return to working within the Child Protection Services. He always felt that he had more to give to this area. In 2017 he took up the managerial position and began the process of restructuring that created the Directorate as it is known today.
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Director Aġenzija Sedqa
| Charles Scerri is a professional, warranted senior social worker who has enrolled with the Foundation for Social Welfare Services in June 2005. He started his career at Child Protection Services where he served there for three and a half years as a social worker. Charles moved to the Looked After Children Service as a coordinator in June 2008, whilst he was promoted to Service Area Leader in July 2011. He also served as a Manager within the service from 2016 till August 2018. The main challenges within the Looked After Children area, were, amongst others, the ever growing challenges of out of home care placements, as well as managing the required restructuring in view of the forthcoming Child Protection Bill. In August 2018, following a streak of thirteen years in the Children's Services of Agenzija Appogg, Charles took up the challenge to shift to the addictions sector, by taking up the reins of Agenzija Sedqa as its new Operations Director.
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Clinical Director SMOPU
| Dr Anna Maria Vella, Clinical Chair, has been working at the Substance Misuse Out Patients Unit (Sedqa: National Agency for Dependencies) for the past 25years. Her area of specialisation is care for pregnant women with a substance misuse problem and women who are into prostitution. She is a Public Health specialist since 2008. She is also a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta for more than 20 years lecturing on Addiction to Medical students, Nurses, Midwives and Social workers and in post graduate courses. Graduated in Medicine and Surgery- University of Perugia- Italy: 1992.Read a Masters in Public Health – University of Malta: 2000. Post-Graduate Diploma in Women's Health- University of Dublin-Ireland: 2005 Read a Masters in Bioethics - St Mary's University Twickenham-London: 2010. Read a PhD in Addiction – King's College London: 2019. Membership in the International Society of Addiction Medicine: 2019.
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Director Corporate Services
| Stephen C Vella BA (Hons), MA, Dip Forensic Studies. Director Corporate Services within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services with over 30 years of services rendered in the social field. Held various managerial positions in social related services, including residential services. Carried out his University degree in Ireland, Masters in Italy and post-graduate diploma in Malta. Proficiently trained in health & safety, procurement procedures and project management. Project led various ESF projects focused on the following issues: Integration of Asylum Seekers (PASSI); Training of frontline workers assisting persons at risk of social exclusion; Training young people to find suitable employment (Embark for life); and training of persons with disability to integrate into the labour market (Me2); and setting up of Community based social services (LEAP) across Malta and Gozo. Mr Vella currently also coordinates nationwide the FEAD food packages distribution along with another State Funded Food Distribution scheme fully funded by National funds.
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Director Gozo Branch
| Mgr Joe Vella Gauci studied Philosophy and Theology. He was ordained a priest in 1988 and pursued studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Birmingham University. He travelled extensively in the Arab world and contributed through several articles, including his publication in 1991 entitled: Islamic Law and Mixed Marriages in Malta. His Ph.D thesis being Christian-Muslim Relations as a Topos in Maltese Historiography, Literature and Culture. During his tenure as Archpriest of his native Gozo Cathedral parish (1996-2007) he promoted the full well-being of people and reached out to the unchurched, divorced and remarried, homosexuals, addicts, and singles. Vella Gauci lectured at the Faculty of Arts (Department of Oriental Studies) at the University of Malta, and at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies at the University of Middlesex through Distance Learning. In 2013, Vella Gauci was appointed Malta's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO as well as the Maltese Government's representative at ICCROM in Rome. He is also one of the founders and chairs the Board of Directors of Fondazzjoni Kenn u Tama which in 2014 inaugurated Dar Emmaus, Gozo's first residential emergency shelter on the island. In June 2018, he was appointed as Director for the Gozo Branch Operations within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services.
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