About us

ZaMirNET is informational and educational Internet Content Provider. ZaMirNET creates and provides information of importance for the civil society in Croatia and wider. Basic principles of our work are empowerment, non-discrimination, solidarity and collaboration with groups and individuals devoted to the culture of peace and non-violence.

Through partnerships with the communities we mobilise knowledge, skills, technology and human resources for community development projects.
Our intervention focuses on-going development of the knowledge base, increase of the social awareness by providing access to the information which enables individuals to take actions and make decisions based on information.
Since the Internet is a tool that enables fast learning, it should be used for community development. Concepts and skills mean nothing if the knowledge is not shared and used for community welfare.

In this context, important is to create or develop social capital - social networks whose members are willing to do something for each other.
Social capital in action means information exchange joint actions to solve some community problem, team spirit and generally, mutual help. Since the vitality of democracy is depending on the activity of citizens, networking and collaborating as social capital are important for democracy at work.

Goals:

• to empower and support civic organisations, social movements and individuals in and through the use of information and communication technologies
• to advocate advancement and protection of human rights
• to foster participatory and transparent political processes
• to enhance government and corporate accountability
• to actively initiate changes within society in accordance with the values of non-violence
• to support inclusion of all disempowered and marginalized groups into society
• to promote the culture of philanthropy and volunteerism
  

Program areas:

• Strategic use of ICTs
• Education
• Networking
• Independent media initiatives

History:

ZaMirNET (ForPeaceNET)
In 1992, ZaMir was established under the Anti-War Campaign of Croatia (ARK) as a network base for women's, peace and human rights organisations from around the country. ARK was established in 1989 as an alliance of 22 groups and organisations devoted to human rights protection and peace building in Croatia after the fall of the communist regime and during the war in the former Yugoslav countries.
Simultaneously, together with five other ZaMir networks based in other ex-Yugoslav countries, ZaMir ZG (Zagreb) was part of the ZTN (ZAMIR TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK), and the world-wide APC (Association for Progressive Communication) network. ZTN was an e-mail network established for Former Yugoslavia to operate as a BBS (Bulletin Board Service). BBS was created for Internet users with lower grade technical equipment that could not provide Web access. More on ZTN on www.foebud.org/org/zamir

In 1997 ZaMir ZG became the ICP (Internet Content Provider) named ZaMirNET. The technical part of the project has been realized by the contractual partner Iskon Ltd., including expansion of the communication infrastructure and the system administration. After simultaneous testing of both ISP and BBS, BBS was completely abandoned in 1998.
ZaMirNET has provided logistic support to numerous advocacy campaigns in Croatia. In 1999, ZaMirNET played an important role in providing technical support to Glas 99 - a Citizens' Coalition for Free and Fair Elections that initiated citizens' engagement in the democratic change of government and the fall of the former nationalistic regime. In 2001 ZaMirNET functioned as the logistic center for the civic initiative Moj glas za pravnu drzavu / My Voice for The Rule of Law when 15.000 people gathered together on the main square in the capital of Zagreb protesting against nationalists requesting amnesty for Croatian war criminals.

ZaMirNET, with its mission to support the development of Civil Society in Croatia, provides a unique non-profit Internet Content Provider (ICP). Reports on the status of human rights, as well as reports from members and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can be found on the network, as well as various information services, job openings with NGOs, announcements about public events, and campaigns and activities initiated through various civic actions.

ZaMirNET, therefore, serves as a space for the free exchange of ideas and information, and hence is an irreplaceable tool in generating new ideas and civic initiatives throughout the region.