Malta's 2024 Biennial report on the implementation of the Child Guarantee – an overview

Three years after the adoption of the European Child Guarantee, EU Member States are releasing the first report on its implementation. The reports offer an overview of the context, target groups, and services established to execute the European Child Guarantee’s National Action Plans. Additionally, they include sections covering indicators, financing details, and insights and conclusions gleaned from the implementation process.

The Maltese Government submitted its 2024 Biennial report on the implementation of the Child Guarantee in 2024.

The report focuses on:

• Early childhood education and care: Malta provides free ECEC services, expanded in 2023 to cover 51% of children under 3.

• Education and school-based activities: Measures aim to prevent school drop-out and ensure the provision of inclusive, high-quality education with specific attention to migrant children.

• Healthy meal each school day: Initiatives include providing children whose parents are employed or studying with the opportunity to have a healthy breakfast.

• Healthcare: Particular attention is given to the right to healthcare for families at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Mental health services are provided free of charge.

• Healthy nutrition: The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived and the State-Funded Food Distribution Programmes provide regular food boxes to children.

• Adequate housing: Measures support housing for children by providing financial assistance and promoting accessible and affordable housing for families through targeted schemes and initiatives.

• Alternative care: Malta provides a foster care allowance, foster care services, and support to young people leaving institutional care.

• Social inclusion: Malta offers children’s allowances, children’s allowance supplements, a disabled child allowance, and several holistic interventions and services targeting children in precarious situations.

Eurochild and its members will continue to call on Member States to release their biennial reports and work to ensure the Child Guarantee National Action Plans help end child poverty.

This summary provides key highlights from the Biennial report on the Child Guarantee implementation in Malta published in December 2024. It is not exhaustive or evaluative.