SDRA-CS Sustainable Development in Return Areas through Civil Society Project implemented in municipalities of Knin, Gracac, Sibenik/Skradin and Benkovac.

Project duration: May 15th 2004 - November 15th 2005.

Project partners: CARE Austria (lead organization), ZaMirNET, GONG.

Project aims at supporting the process of sustainable return in four key municipalities in the counties of Zadar and Sibenik-Knin. Project partners will work to foster an environment favourable for return, through the pursuit of five strategic initiatives. These will centre on enhancing the engagement of civil society institutions and citizens in local development processes. The five programming strands focus on:

a) strengthening the capacity of NGOs to provide quality services to their clients

b) raising the awareness of all citizens regarding their rights, entitlements, and of the socio-economic issues affecting their lives

c) improving the levels of openess, accountability, inclusivity and efficiency of local municipal governments - particularly in relation to local economic and social planning

d) building the capacity of local representative institutions i.e. Village Boards and Councils for National Minorities to better serve their constituents

d) fostering private, public, civil society partnerships in support of sustainable local development

Target groups:

- formal NGOs, community members, local municipal governments, village boards/neighbourhood councils, councils for national minorities

Activities:

1.1 NGO Capacity Building Training and TA package (CARE)

1.2 NGO Study Visit (CARE)

1.3 Encouraging the establishment of NGO coordination mechanisms (CARE)

1.4 Provision of Materials (CARE)

1.5 Small Grants Scheme (CARE)

2.1 Citizen's Hours (GONG)

2.2 Open Parliament - Public Access To Elected Representatives (GONG)

2.3 I Vote For the First Time (GONG)

2.4 Public Advocacy Workshops (GONG)

2.5 Organising Europe Day Celebration (GONG)

3.1 Local Economic and Social Development Action Planning Process (ZaMirNET)

3.2 Provision of IT Materials and building IT infrastructure in local communities (ZaMirNET)

3.3 Training in computing and use of ICT for local municipal government (ZaMirNET)

4.1 Capacity Building for Village Boards and Council for National Minorities (ZaMirNET)

4.2 Provision of IT equipment for Village Boards (ZaMirNET)

4.3 Basic computing training for Village Boards and Councils for National Minorities (ZaMirNET)

5.1 Towns/Municipal Study Visits (CARE)

5.2 Inter-sectoral/Partneship Fairs (CARE)

5.3 Community Web Portals (ZaMirNET)

5.4 Public panels on ICT4D (ZaMirNET)

5.5 Job Search Training (live and online) (ZaMirNET)

Total project budget: 700.000EUR

Donor: European Comission