CORRECTED COPY: USAID GIFT PROJECTS IN CROATIA

1. This message updates and replaces Zagreb 01065.
USAID in Croatia has three existing and one planned
program, which contribute to the goals of Internet
freedom in promoting access to and use of the Internet.



2. Project Name: Local Government Reform Program
Recipient: Local and regional governments throughout
Croatia
Project Description: Using E-Government software, the
project goal is to improve transparency between
government officials and local citizens. The software,
developed through USAID technical assistance, enables
government officials to post city budget, meeting
minutes and allows citizens to post questions of their
local officials. Governments will soon use the program
to advertise referenda and post forms on-line. The
system increases accountability and transparency by
giving citizens access to information and promotes
interaction between citizens and their local leaders.
IT component: USAID also funded software development
FY 05 Funding: approximately $400,000
FY 06 Funding: approximately $400,000
Funding is estimated because the e-government component
is only one part of the Local Government Reform
Program.



3. Project Name: Legacy Project
Recipients: NGOs involved in legal services, politics,
commerce and consulting
Project Description: The purpose of the Legacy Program
is to provide institutional capacity development
assistance to key organizations to enhance their
ability to be legacies of U.S. assistance. These are
organizations, institutions or people who will protect
and build upon USAID investments and become advocates
for Croatia's development as a market-oriented and
democratic society. Whereas the majority of the Project
focuses on the internal procedures, human capacity
development and sustainability of the Legacy
institutions, there are aspects of the Project that
include improving access to information, increased
communication abilities, the provision of computers and
software, and training for IT professionals.
IT Component: USAID donated 10 personal computers to
the Legal Services Coalition, Osijek, a coalition of 10
NGOs involved in human rights advocacy and legal
services. These computers will be used to set up a
database that will provide a standardized tracking
system of human rights violations in Croatia. The
Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF), a member of the Legal
Services Coalition, will receive two additional
computers as well as technical assistance in
information management under the project that will
allow them to better communicate between the numerous
offices in Croatia and with the general public. GONG, a
political NGO that serves as an alternative voice in
the political arena, received software and will receive
IT literature. USAID has contracted with a U.S. vendor
to establish a new portal and IT training for the
Association of Management Consultants, an NGO, which
acts as a coalition of consultants. USAID, along with
the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, will help to build a
reservation and payment system on line for OMH, a
coalition of small and family-run hotels, which USAID
helped to establish.
FY05 Funding: $10,000
FY06 Funding: approximately $75,000



4. Project Name: Independent Software Vendor
Development Center
Project Description: USAID and Microsoft Croatia, along
with the Government of Croatia and the City of
Varazdin, established an Independent Software Vendor
Development Center located in Varazdin, Croatia. The
Center will provide the infrastructure and resources to
help software developers - in both small new companies
and larger established companies - to create innovative
new products and services, bring those products and
services to market and build well-managed businesses
around those innovative products and services. Large
numbers of Croatian and international IT and software
development experts will be brought in to work directly
with Croatian software developers and companies.
FY05 Funding: $500,000
FY06 Funding: $0



5. USAID is negotiating with the city of Vukovar, HT
(Croatia's Telecom Company), Microsoft, IBM and HABOR
(Croatia's bank for reconstruction and development) to
expand Internet access to the public and to make
Vukovar, one of the most war-affected areas, a wireless
city. The goal of the program is for everyone in
Vukovar to have free access to the Internet.
FY06 Funding: between $3 million and $4 million in
total funding with partners. USAID contribution to be
between $200,000 - $500,000.
BRADTKE