The Council for Civil Society Development is an advisory body to the Government of the Republic of Croatia acting towards developing cooperation between the Government with the civil society organisations in Croatia in the implementation of the National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development; the development of philanthropy, social capital, partnership relations and cross sector cooperation.
Tasks of the Council for Civil Society Development:
- participation in constant monitoring and analysis of public policies referring to and/or affecting civil society development in the Republic of Croatia and cross-sector cooperation;
- participation in expressing opinions to the Government of the Republic of Croatia on legislation drafts affecting the civil society development in the Republic of Croatia, as well as participation in the organisation of an apt way to include and engage CSOs in discussions about regulations, strategies and programmes affecting the development and functioning of civil society both on the national and European level, and cooperation with the public and private sector;
- cooperation in planning priorities of the national programmes for public funding of programmes and projects of CSOs, along with the analysis of annual reports of the ministries and offices of the Government of the Republic of Croatia on CSOs' projects and programmes financed;
- participation in programming and setting priorities for the use of EU funds that are available for the Republic of Croatia, based on the efficient system of consultations with CSOs;
- performing tasks which meet the general purpose of the Council's function and which are covered by the aims of the National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for the Civil Society Development;
- cooperation with the Croatian representatives of civil society in the European Economic and Social Committee in formulating positions of civil society on the level of the European Union;
- candidacy and election of CSO representatives in committees, advisory or working bodies at request of state administration bodies, the Government offices and other public authorities.
Public administration bodies and government offices are obliged to submit accurate information about their decisions on financing associations and other civil society organisations in the Republic of Croatia for the last completed fiscal year. This is done through the Office for Cooperation with NGOs. The Council can establish and appoint permanent and temporary working groups in the course of implementing its tasks. The Council reports to the Government about its work once every year.
The Council has 37 members out of which 17 representatives of relevant state administrative bodies and the Croatian Government offices, 14 representatives of non-governmental, non-profit organizations ,3 representatives of civil society from foundations, trade unions and employers’ associations and 3 representatives of national associations of local and regional self-governance. The Council has a president, elected by the Council members representing civil society from their own ranks while the vice-president is elected by the members of the Council representing the state institutions. The president and the members of the Council are elected for a mandate of 3 years and can be re-elected.
The functioning of the Council is based on the Decision on the Establishment of the Council for Civil society Development (Official Gazette No. 140/09, 42/2012, 61/2014, 62/2017) and it regulates its work through its rules of procedure. The logistic and administrative work for the Council is done by the Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Croatian government.
Decision on the establishment of the Council for the Development of Civil Society:
Official Gazette no. 140/2009
Decision on amendments to the Decision on establishing the Council for Development of Civil Society
Decision on amendments to the Decision on establishing the Council for Development of Civil Society
Decision on amendments to the Decision on establishing the Council for Development of Civil Society
Decision on the establishment of the Council for Civil Society Development (unofficial consolidated text drafted by Office for Cooperation with NGOs)
Rules of the Procedure of the Council for the Development of Civil Society
