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Croatia
>> Regional Overview >> Croatia Overview Activity Data Sheet
PROGRAM: Croatia
TITLE & NUMBER: Accelerated Return and Sustainable Reintegration of War-Affected Populations, 160-031
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $10,131,000 (AEEB)
PROPOSED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $10,000,000 (AEEB)
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004Summary: This program area will achieve increased, sustainable return in selected municipalities and towns that have demonstrated their commitment to the process of minority refugee return. USAID's assistance will help those who have returned remain and will draw other returnees. The strategic objective will emphasize a comprehensive community-based approach that will bring a critical mass of assistance with infrastructure reconstruction, economic revitalization efforts, community building, legal aid and housing solutions (without direct reconstruction) to communities that welcome and contribute toward the return of minority citizens.
Program Categories include the reconstruction of war-damaged infrastructure, economic revitalization, community reintegration, support for cross-border returns, legal assistance to returnees, the development of market-based solutions to housing repair, small infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Key Results: Accomplishment of this strategic objective will result in an acceleration of the overall return rate and an increase in the number of returnees who are economically active in USAID's partnership municipalities.
Performance and Prospects: In FY 2001, USAID intends to obligate $10,131,000 under this strategic objective. Performance to date has been encouraging (121,158 refugees to date-UNHCR 2001) despite the challenges of the poor economic environment and the limited cooperation of some local government officials. However, the majority of returnees to date have been elderly, underscoring the need for better employment prospects and reconstruction of education facilities to attract younger families.
Up until the year 2000, USAID's efforts to provide resources for returnees from all ethnic groups were slowed significantly by the previous Government's obstruction of the minority return process. Almost all of the Government's reconstruction assistance was provided to areas where Croats were returning to their pre-war places of residence. Moreover, the former regime slowed the return of minorities through bureaucratic means, and Croatian citizens of Serb ethnicity experienced great difficulties in securing pre-war status, including citizenship documents, repossession of houses, and social benefits.
A new Government elected in January 2000 voiced its support for a fair return process for all Croatian citizens. These political changes, together with deterioration in living standards in places of refuge such as FRY, caused an upsurge in minority returns. In 2000, UNHCR registered 28,711 refugee returns from other countries, primarily Croatian Serbs, in comparison with 21,760 returned refugees in 1999.
Although the Government committed itself to eliminating the legal and administrative barriers to the return of minority citizens, to date substantial policy reforms have not been implemented. The Government faces severe budgetary constraints that limit the assistance it can provide for infrastructure repair, housing reconstruction and other forms of assistance to returnees. Many local governments, especially in areas with the potential for a significant number of returns, remain in the hands of the nationalist officials from the HDZ party who do not support return programs. Local elections are scheduled for May 2001 and should bring about some positive change.
USAID's activities to achieve this objective are in a transitional stage. All implementing mechanisms terminated in FY 2000 or early FY 2001. A new vehicle for implementing infrastructure reconstruction, the Community Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program (CIRP), is up and running. The Economic and Community Revitalization Activity (ECRA) will be operational in the third quarter of FY 2001. A new activity focusing on market-based solutions to housing reconstruction is scheduled for implementation in early FY 2002. The new activities represent a change in approach for USAID. Assistance will be concentrated in approximately fifteen war-affected municipalities in order to bring to bear a critical mass of resources and achieve maximum impact in those locales.
Even though FY 2000 was a transitional year, USAID activities contributed significantly to supporting the return of refugees. A total of twenty six infrastructure reconstruction projects were completed including eleven electrical projects, nine water and sewage projects and six building projects. In the area of economic revitalization, 38 agricultural associations and cooperatives representing more than 12,000 farmers received technical assistance. In FY 2000, seven USAID-supported legal aid NGOs, through their thirty legal offices, provided pro bono legal services to 48,435 clients and worked on 58,724 cases.
USAID continues to be the primary international donor for reconstruction of infrastructure, particularly in the power and water sectors. In FY2000, after the Congress appropriated supplemental funds for Croatia, USAID pledged $5 million for joint electrification projects in return areas with the Croatian Power Company (HEP) as part of its larger CIRP. This allocation was a result of USAID's analysis that one of the main barriers to returns in rural areas is the absence of electricity. Over 200 settlements throughout the war-affected areas are still without electricity. In addition, CIRP will repair and reconstruct community buildings such as schools, clinics and community centers as well as roads, water and wastewater facilities. USAID obligated $9,500,000 in FY 2000 and plans to obligate $1,732,000 for infrastructure reconstruction and rehabilitation in FY 2001.
Recognizing that sustainable returns of young, economically active families require job opportunities and viable community services, a major portion of USAID resources will be devoted to the Economic and Community Revitalization Activity (ECRA). Approximately seventy percent of the population in rural areas worked full-time before the war in state-owned industries and supplemented family incomes with subsistence agriculture. Because the majority of industries in pre-war rural towns have been destroyed or gone bankrupt, few returnees have been reemployed at their old jobs and most rely on small agricultural production as a stopgap measure. There is an urgent need to increase jobs and income in micro-and small enterprises, including agribusiness.
Community-building activities are also necessary to prevent an upsurge in ethnic tension once the rate of minority returns increases, and to promote long-term reconciliation. To date, ethnic tension has been kept to a minimum. USAID community activities, such as support for village boards, community centers, women's groups, and local NGOs, will seek to promote peaceful co-existence between ethnic groups. Likewise, follow-on support to the Croatian NGOs providing pro-bono legal assistance to returnees will continue, since securing property restitution and other legal rights is impossible without it.
During the HDZ Government era, the HDZ encouraged Bosnian Croats to remain in Croatia to prevent the return of minority Serb citizens. The right of Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) to continue occupying someone else's home, even if the homeowner has returned to Croatia, was unquestioned. In this environment, few Bosnian Croats voiced an interest in returning to BiH since their option to remain seemed secure and, for many, returning to Republika Srpska did not appear viable. Since the election of the new GOC, Bosnian Croats are realizing that, in some cases, return is an option and possibly a necessity, as the Government no longer recognizes their claim to indefinite occupancy of Serb-owned houses. In collaboration with USAID Missions in BiH and the FRY, USAID Croatia will support programs specifically aimed at promoting the movement of people across borders. Such programs will provide financial support to pro-return Bosnian Croat associations, and by implementing projects that support cross-border returns such as regional transport links and infrastructure.
USAID plans to obligate $4,550,000 in FY 2001 for economic revitalization, community reintegration, legal assistance, and cross-border programs.
While donors including the European Union and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) are engaged in housing reconstruction, their available resources do not fulfill all perceived need. USAID will seek to ameliorate the situation by exploring ways to use market mechanisms to respond to the need for housing reconstruction. Through the ECRA, special attention will be given to activities that promote economic and community revitalization through the housing sector, such as support for building-related businesses and trades. A new activity focusing on promoting market-based solutions for housing is also to be implemented, possibly including a voucher program. USAID plans to obligate $2,500,000 for market-based solutions to housing reconstruction.
USAID plans to obligate $500,000 for training programs that directly support implementation of activities under this strategic objective. During FY 2001, planned funding for program administration and support under this strategic objective totals $850,000.
The current USAID program is based on the lessons learned from previous experience by USAID and other donors. While mid-course corrections may be necessary to refine program designs in FY 2002, major adjustments are unlikely.
Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are the USAID-assisted communities that encourage refugees and displaced persons to return. Indirectly, all returnees benefit from greater economic activity and a more stable community life. Since 1997, more than 59,000 people returned to USAID-assisted villages. Thirty eight percent were minority returnees (i.e. Croatian Serbs). In CY 2000, over 7,100 returned to these communities, of which 65% were minority returnees.
Possible Adjustments to Plans: None.
Other Donor Programs: USAID will continue to leverage return assistance by cooperating with the GOC and other donors. One of USAID's main partners in reconstruction has been the European Union (EU) through its implementing partner, Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB). Other donors include UNHCR, OSCE, the World Bank and bilateral donors such as the Governments of the Netherlands, Canada and Norway. In addition, private foundations such as the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute contribute to reconstruction and revitalization in the war-affected areas. Department of State/PRM and its implementing partners are also key players, especially in housing reconstruction.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Louis Berger International is implementing CIRP. A cooperative agreement will be competitively awarded to an U.S. organization for the implementation of ECRA. The small grants mechanism being designed by SO 2.1 for strengthening indigenous, grass roots NGOs will be used in war-affected areas, rather than creating a separate mechanism under ECRA. The type of implementing partner for the market-based housing reconstruction activity will be determined during the design process.
FY 2002 Performance Table
Selected Performance Measures: Accelerated Return and Sustainable Reintegration of War-Affected Populations, 160-031
Indicator FY97 (Actual) FY98 (Actual)** FY99 (Actual)** FY00 (Actual)** FY01 (Plan) FY02 (Plan) Indicator 1: Number of firms, including farms, assisted NA 3,700 12,817 12,308 NA* NA* Indicator 2: Employment growth in assisted firms NA 963 2,817 157 NA* NA* Indicator 3: Number of displaced persons (DP) and refugee (R) returns N/A 15,389 (R)
40,870 (DP)21,760 (R)
31,294(DP)28,711 (R)
15,604 (DP)NA* NA* Indicator 4: Number of returns to USAID-supported municipalities N/A 8,335 10,000 7,169 NA* NA* Indicator Information:
Indicator Level (S)or(IR) Unit of Measure Source Indicator Description Indicator 1: IR Private firms, including agricultural cooperatives, associations and farmers, in war-affected regions University of Delaware Firm Level Assistance Group (FLAG), Opportunity International, and the Small Assistance Fund (SEAF) Assistance provided directly in the form of credit, equity investment, technical assistance or training. Indicator 2: IR Jobs created through the creation, growth or expansion of assisted firms University of Delaware Firm Level Assistance Group (FLAG), Opportunity International, and the Small Assistance Fund (SEAF) Jobs created after, or as a result of assistance provided directly in the form of credit, equity investment, technical assistance and/or training. Indicator 3: IR Displaced Persons (DPs) and Refugees UNHCR Numbers who have actually returned to their home of origin Indicator 4: IR Displaced Persons (DPs) and Refugees International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR, GoC ODDPR, OSCE Numbers who have actually returned to their homes of origin in the municipalities in the Return Assistance Program. *Note: USAID/Croatia recently received approval for a new five-year strategic plan which redefines SO 3.1 and will therefore require new measurements and indicators in the reporting cycle. A Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) is currently under development which will propose new SO and IR level indicators.
**The data on the number of returned Displaced Persons and Refugees reported by UNHCR is based on Calendar Year figures.
U.S. Financing
(In thousands of dollars)
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
