The levels of accountability in the organisation of Maltese village festas : a survey

Abstract

One of the main issues that exist in the local non-profit making organisations sector deals with 'public accountability'. Local festa committees should provide information to the public at their own free will, thus consolidating the trust that exists between them and the public. Lack of information, on the other hand will lead to many people questioning the actions of respective committee members. It is very important that the people responsible for the administration of the festa committees are accountable to the general public. For an effective trust relationship to be maintained between voluntary organisations and the general public, it is essential that accountability is maintained and that the two bodies, through direct communication with each other, share all necessary information. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the current practices carried out in local festa committees, to compare such practices with other voluntary organisations, and to analyze the people's perception on accountability. Different sources of literature were used to obtain a good detailed background of the various levels of accountability. In order to collect the necessary information vis-a-vis the local scenario, two sets of questionnaires were dispatched to the local festa committees and the general public respectively. The whole population of local festa committees was selected to participate in this research, while a random sample of 384 respondents from the general public was chosen. All research findings were analyzed by using the latest version of SPSS. Statistical tests were used to extract any associations between two different variables, thus making it possible to generalise the results for the whole population. From the results obtained it was evident that there is an urgent need for local festa committees to improve their accountability by providing more relevant info1mation to the general public and contributors. A discussion of findings followed, including also some comparisons with similar voluntary organisations found in Malta and Gozo. Finally, a number of recommendations were listed and explained, with the ultimate aim to improve the local voluntary sector.