FreeHour Malta on 20th September held its first-ever conference entitled FutureHour, a sub-brand aiming to explore a path towards improving key societal issues across the Maltese Islands.

Earlier this year, FreeHour conducted a scientific study, together with leading data agency Marketing Advisory Services, to obtain a deeper understanding of Malta's youths. 16 to 27-year-olds were asked for their insights and thoughts regarding employment, education, the environment and more.

The research obtained a sample pool of just over 2,000 respondents. This culminated in a 200-page report full of data and statistics related to the State of Youth in Malta 2022, which was the main theme of the FutureHour conference.

50 of Malta’s most influential stakeholders and change-makers were invited to the conference, with the aim of creating objective and actionable debates to find a clearer direction for Malta, and for Malta’s youths.

President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola and Minister for Environment, Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli each delivered keynote speeches to kick off the afternoon. They discussed the European Year of Youth and Malta’s environmental situation as it pertains to youth respectively.

FreeHour Founder and CEO Zach Ciappara during the conference

FreeHour’s Founder and CEO Zach Ciappara presented the company’s findings from the survey, while delving into some key statistics about the younger demographic. Regarding the environment, 83.1 per cent of youths believe that Malta’s environmental situation will worsen considerably over the next five years. When it came to politics and activism, 80.9 per cent of youths in Malta believe we have a culture of impunity.

These results opened the floor to the first panel discussion, titled “Is the Damage Done Reversible?”. This was moderated by FreeHour’s Head of Operations Edward De Gabriele and featured Jon Mallia, Mark Laurence Zammit and Jon Mallia. The panellists looked back on the data presented to identify the gaps and issues youths are facing, looking at the damage done by generations before them and considering whether or not this damage is reversible.

After a short break, FreeHour’s Projects and Policy Manager Denise Perini spoke about the way forward to push the country in the right direction. She highlighted that olderbgenerations have been “unwilling” to listen to young people when raising concerns on key issues that affect them, which has resulted in a large feeling of apathy amongst the younger generation.

(Centre Left) Energy Minister Miriam Dalli next to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, posing for photos with the FreeHour team as they attend and address the conference 

This was followed by the second panel discussion, titled “Building the Next Generation of Youth”. This was moderated by Albert Galea and featured Peter Grech, Marie Briguglio, Jeff Buttigieg, and Jean-Marc Cafa’. The discussion focused on how we can move forward as a nation with the issues discussed in mind, and more specifically, how we can include youths as key drivers of the ways forward.

The event closed with another speech by Mr Ciappara about Employment and Media Consumption in the 21st Century, pairing both survey results with his own insights from running a company with over 20 employees in their teens and 20’s, on top of an Instagram community with over 50,000 followers.

Looking back on the company’s milestone achievement, Mr Ciappara commented that he was “super proud of the entire FreeHour team to have pulled off such a successful first edition of FutureHour, while still managing to maintain a smooth operation of multiple other external and internal projects, such as the upcoming Freshers’ Month, new updates to the FreeHour App, and much more”. He also expressed his excitement for what is to come for both FutureHour and FreeHour’s ongoing research within the Gen-Z and youth demographic, as they continue to work towards building “the next generation of youths”.