7.6 million CHF to ensure an enabling environment for building civil society

Minister Erlić and Ambassador Hammer signed a new agreement in the framework of the second Swiss contribution.

Minister of Regional Development and Funds of the European Union Šime Erlić and Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation H. E. Urs Hammer signed the agreement in the framework of the second Swiss contribution, which makes 7.6 million Swiss francs available to Croatia to support civil society.

The Programme operator is the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, and its goal is to foster a supportive environment for the development of civil society, which is crucial for the overall growth of society. The program will be implemented through four components – education on sustainable development, strengthening of volunteering, service-learning programmes in the community, as well as micro projects.

“From the second Swiss contribution, a total of 45.7 million Swiss francs were allocated to Croatia, which will be aimed at reducing economic and social inequalities, through investments in civil society, research programmes, water supply and drainage in Gorski Kotar, and the palliative care programme. With this contract, we continue our successful cooperation with Swiss partners, through which we have already invested 42.7 million Swiss francs from the first Contribution in areas such as security, social and economic development, and the development of environmental infrastructure, of which 6.3 million were directed to civil society organizations’ projects”, said Minister Erlić at the signing of the contract.

He also reminded that an agreement for the research area was signed in March, based on which  the Swiss National Science Foundation, in cooperation with partner science foundations from Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, issued a call for MAPS Multilateral Academic Projects. Within the same Programme, HAMAG-BICRO opened a joint call for international collaborative projects in the Eurostars programme in July. Applicants can be small and medium-sized commercial companies engaged in research and development, and the projects that would be co-financed should include the development of a new product, service or process.

H.E. Ambassador Hammer expressed satisfaction that Croatia and Switzerland have decided to continue successful cooperation in the field of civic initiatives, which will enable Switzerland to share its experience in mobilizing civil society as a development factor, which helped build a stable Switzerland based on innovation and pluralism. He emphasized that civic engagement is the core of democracy and that he looks forward to seeing how the ideas of civil society organizations will be put into practice.

Through the first Swiss contribution, 11 projects were contracted related to the demining of the Kotar šuma area near Sisak and the social-economic integration of mine victims, the improvement of the water supply and drainage system in Gorski Kotar, cooperation in scientific and research projects, modernization of vocational education and strengthening of entrepreneurship and civil society.

The Swiss contribution in Croatia and the monitoring of the implementation of programmes financed with Swiss funds are carried out by the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds together with the competent bodies of the state administration responsible for the implementation and monitoring of projects, in cooperation with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swiss Contribution Office at the Swiss Embassy.