Swiss - Croatian Cooperation Programme
The Swiss-Croatian program of cooperation is the part of the continuation of Swiss solidarity in sharing efforts with the EU aiming at reducing of economic and social disparities in the youngest EU member state. This Swiss-Croatian Cooperation Program will support activities to directly enable the betterment of Croatian citizens. Through this program, Croatia expects further strengthening of bilateral relations with Switzerland, the creation of institutional partnerships between Croatia and Switzerland, contribution to reducing social inequality and support to economic development.
The Second Swiss Contribution is built on the results of the First Swiss Contribution (implemented from 2017 till 2024) within which 7.48 million Swiss francs were provided for CSOs in our country as an incentive for the cooperation of Croatian and Swiss non-profit organisations and the promotion of civil society’s contribution to economic and social cohesion. The activities related to the improvement of skills and knowledge about the sustainable development of children, young people (primary and secondary school age) and their family members. The volunteer work of children and young people was also promoted. Participated were 9855 pupils of primary and secondary school and 182 training programmes for sustainable development were implemented, which resulted in 62 models of good practices in achieving the goals of sustainable development. Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs (GOfNGOs) was responsible for implementation of the First Swiss contribution programme in the area of civil society. During the programme implementation, the GOfNGOs had a dual function, as an Intermediary Body and an Executive Agency, i.e. as one body responsible for the whole process, from programming and publishing a Call, selection of projects till monitoring of the implementation, as well as a support to Beneficiaries till the end of the implementation. In the framework of two Swiss Grants in total 52 projects in which implementation participated were 104 CSOs, 114 primary and secondary schools, 19 unit of local/regional self-government and 14 institutions were funded.
Second Swiss Contribution
Framework Agreement on implementation of the Second Swiss Contribution for the period 2019-2029 between the Republic of Croatia and Swiss Confederation were signed on 18 October 2022. The Act on confirmation of the Framework Agreement between the Croatian Government and the Swiss Federal Council on implementation of the Second Swiss Contribution for the selected EU member states for the reduction of economic and social inequalities within the EU entered into force on 17 May 2023.
By this the preconditions have been reached for using 45,7 million of Swiss Francs of the Second Swiss Contribution for funding 4 programmes: Research Programme, with two programme components: Multilateral joint research projects (MZP) and EUROSTARS worth 8 million CHF, Water supply and drainage in the area of Gorski Kotar (13 million CHF), Palliative Care Programme (5.5 CHF), and Civil Society total worth CHF 7.6 million.
Second Swiss Contribution System of Management and Implementation
The Croatian part:
The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds (MRDEU) as the National Coordination Unit (NCU), responsible for the overall implementation of the contribution, Ministry of Finance as the Accreditation Body, Service for Coordination of the System for Combating Irregularities and Fraud in the use of EU funds (AFCOS-service), Agency for Auditing the EU Programme Implementation System (ARPA), Programme managers / Programme component managers, responsible for the preparation and implementation of the programme more precisely for civil society, GOfNGOs.
Swiss part:
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs - SECO), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - SDC), Swiss Contribution Office of the Swiss Embassy.
Signing of this Framework Agreement is the joint result of the work of the Croatian Government led by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds and the Swiss Federal Council acting through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Civil Society Programme
Within the Civil Society Programme envisaged were 7.6 million CHF for 4 Calls for Proposals that will deal with themes of education for sustainable development, volunteering, micro projects and service learning. Publishing of the first call on the subject of Sustainable Development Education is planned by the end of November 2024.
Goals
The overall goal is building democratic structures and processes through civil engagement in order to reduce of economic and social inequalities.
Strategic focus
The programme will fund activities selected within the Call for proposals and provide management support to CSOs. Special attention will be paid to less developed areas with the aim of contributing to the balance of socioeconomic growth in the Republic of Croatia.
Programme will be implemented through 4 components:
Component 1: Education on Sustainable Development
The Goal is to strengthen the contribution to CSOs in education on sustainable development for improving economic and social cohesion. The role of the CSOs in developing of competences of children and youth on issues of sustainable development will be increased, and the partnerships of CSOs, schools and local communities in raising awareness of issues of sustainable development will be strengthened.
Component 2: Strengthening of volunteering
The Goal is to strengthen volunteering contribution to the economic and social growth as well as the democratic development through increase of the number of quality and sustain volunteering education programmes for children and youth and, encouraging of inclusive volunteering development. Supported activities are intended to effectively volunteer management and encouraging volunteers.
Component 3: Micro projects
The innovative micro projects of CSOs for local development will be supported.
The goal is to ensure a sustained regional socio-economic growth and democratic development of the Republic of Croatia (RoC) by strengthening of CSOs capacities for their active role in the local community development by carrying out tailor-made activities that solve local problems.
Component 4: Service-learning programmes
The Goal is to support the development of partnership between CSOs and higher education institutions for implementation of service learning programmes. The inclusion of students and higher education employees in service learning activities corresponds to the need to strengthen the professional, analytical and advocacy capacities of CSOs.
For more information, contact us at: svicarskiprogram@udruge.vlada.hr
Related documents:
Framework Agreement - Croatia
Framework Agreement - Switzerland
Regulations
Annex to the Communication Manual
Law on the confirmation of the Framework Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Swiss Federal Council on the implementation of the second Swiss contribution to select member states of the European Union for the reduction of economic and social inequalities within the EU