The Malta Developers’ Association has been benefitting from a fund aimed at assisting civil society organisations for the past four years, The Sunday Times of Malta can reveal.
Set up 10 years ago, the Civil Society Fund provides financial assistance that facilitates the groups’ affiliation with similar European groups as well as with training at EU level.
Civil society organisations are, by definition, usually those that are non-governmental and not-for-profit, made up of people from the social sphere and which work for the good of society.
It has now emerged that the MDA, which brings together real estate developers, has been benefitting every year from the fund since 2015.
Contacted by the newspaper, a spokeswoman for Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations confirmed that the association has benefitted under the scheme “in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018”, adding that there had yet to be a call this year.
“It was supported for affiliation fees (UEPC), the organisation of conferences or seminars related to EU issues related to their sector, part of a salary of officials working on EU related affairs and the motilities and participation related to UEPC meetings abroad,” the spokeswoman said.
The revelation that the developers’ group received funding has irked members of other organisations, who said the MDA’s work benefitted a group of private individuals and not civil society.
The MDA’s work benefitted a group of private individuals and not civil society
They argued that it was incomprehensible that while certain organisations working to bring about positive change in society struggled with securing funding, others like the MDA succeeded in getting support more easily.
Asked about these concerns, the parliamentary secretariat spokeswoman said that “as long as an organisation satisfies the requirements of eligibility for such benefits the government is committed to assist”.
Questions on whether the government believed the work by the developers’ association benefitted society and if so, in what way, remained unanswered.
According to last year’s guidelines for applicants, published online, the organisations that are eligible to apply for funding include those that are voluntary and self-governing “not subject to direction by public authorities, independent of political control”. It also includes social partners and civil society organisations that have “official recognition under some specific law”.
Organisations that are established “for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest” are also eligible, the guidelines state.
Each organisation receives a maximum of €6,000, with the government publishing a list of the amounts approved on the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector website.
According to the latest data available, which covers the amounts supplied in 2017, there were 61 organisations that benefitted from the scheme, yet despite the government spokeswoman confirming the MDA received funding that year, the body was not on this list.
When Times of Malta asked for a breakdown of the amounts supplied to the developers, no reply was received.
A civil society organisation is defined as “a group of people which operates in the community, in a way that is distinct from both government and business”.