USAID's Local Government Reform Project held its Close-out Conference at the Mimara Museum in Zagreb on July 5, 2007. More than two hundred guests – state and local officials, academics, journalists and other Project participants, attended the Conference.

Representatives of the Association of Cities led by Vice-presidents Nedjeljka Klarić, the Mayor of Šibenik and Zvonko Borić, the Mayor of Belišće, met with the Mayor of the Hague, Wim Deetman and the Ambassador of the Netherlands Catharina Maria Trooster on April 17, 2007. 

USAID's Local Government Reform Project is organizing a Local Government Hour with the topic Accelerating the Decentralization Process in the Sectors of Agriculture and Education in the Republic of Croatia. Local Government Hour is the forth in a series of Local Government Hours organized during March by LGRP. So far, Local Government Hours were held in Split, Opatija and Osijek with the topic of Accelerating the Decentralization Process in the Sectors of Urban Planning and Public Roads in the Republic of Croatia. Forth Local Government Hour will be held in Zagreb in Novinarski dom, on Friday, March 30 at 10:00 o’clock.  

USAID's Local Government Reform Project, with support of the Public Procurement Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the EU CARDS Twinning Project, is organizing a set of seminars entitled “Managing Public Procurement in Local Governments“ for officials of city and municipality administrations. The next seminar will be held in the Croatian Chamber of Economy – Osijek County Chamber in Osijek, March 14 - 16, 2007 (Wednesday - Friday) beginning at 9 am. This is the third seminar of the cycle, following seminars in Zagreb and Koprivnica.

During March of this year, USAID’s Local Government Reform Project is organizing a series of Local Government Hours on Accelerating the Decentralization Process in the Sectors of Urban Planning and Public Roads in the Republic of Croatia. The first Local Government Hour is taking place in Split on March 5 and the next two are scheduled in Opatija on March 12, and in Osijek on March 16. The discussion will focus on the study “Analysis of Local Governments Functional Tasks and Recommendations for Further Decentralization”, which resulted from a series of round table discussions held at the end of 2005 among representatives of cities and municipalities in the Republic of Croatia.  USAID’s Local Government Reform Project drafted the Analysis in collaboration with the Union of the Association of Cities and Association of Municipalities at the beginning of this year. The publication is now revised and extended.  

USAID's Local Government Reform Project, with support of the Public Procurement Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the EU CARDS Twinning Project, is organizing a set of seminars entitled “Managing Public Procurement in Local Governments“ for officials of city and municipality administrations. The next seminar will be held in the premises of the Croatian Chamber of Economy – Koprivnica County Chamber in Koprivnica from February 28th to March 2nd, 2007 (Wednesday - Friday) starting at 9 am. This is a second seminar of the cycle, following the first one in Zagreb from January 29th to 31st, 2007.

For the third time The Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb organizes the Local Democracy and e-Governance five-day seminar in cooperation with the USAID’s Local Government Reform Project from February 12th to 16th, 2007. It is designed for local government officials.

SELECTIO, a leading national company in HR management, in cooperation with the USAID’s Local Government Reform Project is organizing third certified course on Human Resources Management In Local Governments at the International Hotel, Zagreb, February 5 - 7, 2007. The training is intended primarily for the managerial staff (county prefects, mayors and department heads), as well as for the human resources employees (HR departments) at local governments.

The USAID's Local Government Reform Project in cooperation with the Public Procurement Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and EU CARDS Twinning Project “Strengthening the Public Procurement System in the Republic of Croatia“ organize a set of courses entitled “Managing Public Procurement System in Local Governments“ for the officials working in city and municipality administrations. The courses will be held in Zagreb, Koprivnica, Split and Osijek starting at the end of January and lasting until the end of March, 2007. The objective of these courses is to provide knowledge on how to develop the efficient public procurement managerial system – commencing with procurement planning up to contract conclusion. 

Croatian Public Relations Association (HUOJ - CPRA) and USAID's Local Government Reform Project presented the Croatian translation of the workbook Media Relations for Local Governments: Communicating for Results by Lydia Bjornlund (ICMA, 1996), on Thursday, January 18, 2007 in the Old City Hall of the City of Zagreb Assembly. The book was published by HUOJ's book label PRINT.

ZAGREB, November 15, 2006 – INFO DAY for Local Governments and Partners: "Efficient Management through Outsourcing", a one-day conference and exhibition event, took place today at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb, organized by the USAID’s Local Government Reform Project and the Association of Cities in the Republic of Croatia, with the support of the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK). INFO DAY provided local government officials with information on how to enhance efficiency of public service delivery to citizens through outsourcing. 

ZAGREB - We are pleased to invite you to the presentation of the Public Procurement Manual, jointly developed by the Government of Croatia's Public Procurement Office, EU CARDS Program and USAID Croatia. The Manual will be presented to the local and regional government employees and elected officials during October 2006 in Zagreb (Oct. 20), Split (Oct. 23), Koprivnica (Oct. 25), Osijek (Oct. 26), and Rijeka (Oct. 30). The Manual is a guidebook for efficient public procurement, designed to ensure that public funds are managed in a transparent, efficient and cost-effective manner.

DES MOINES - USAID’s Local Government Reform Project has organized a study trip to Iowa for a group of seven participants regarding the advocacy for local government interests. The group consists of two members of Parliament - Dragutin Lesar and Kruno Peronja, Mayors of the Cities of Zabok and Pakrac – Ivan Hanžek and Davor Huška, Ksenija Andrejić from the Regional Development Fund, Kornelija Mlinarević from the Croatian Institute for Local Government in Osijek and Deana Knežević, journalist for Croatian daily Večernji List.

Public Relations (PR) in local government are insufficiently present and relatively underdeveloped. Only ¼ of Croatian cities and municipalities hire a PR professional. Their activities comprise solely media-relation programs and only in part the internal communication. In terms of the volume of programs, position, budgets, skills, and managerial experiences, the public relations lag not only behind the private sector but also behind the average public relations activities conducted within the public sector in Croatia generally. A PR professional usually does not attend sessions of the City Board and nor does he/she exercises the minimal influence regarding the adoptions of organizational decisions.

SPLIT - The three-day seminar "Managing continuing education centers/departments" will take place at the Faculty of Law in Split, September 5 – 7, 2006. The seminar will be conducted by Barbara E. Hanniford, PhD, dean of the Division of Continuing Education of the Cleveland State University, Ohio. The seminar is designed for trainers and program managers from the Croatian partner-institutions, participating in the Five-Day Certificate Courses Program for Local Governments.

Dubrovnik, May 30, 2006 - The Technical Twinning Program between the cities of Monterey and Dubrovnik initiated a year ago at the recommendation and financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Local Government Reform Project. The delegation of the City of Monterey visited Dubrovnik on two occasions (in March and October 2005), while the representatives of the City of Dubrovnik visited Monterey in September last year as well as from May 22 - 26 of this year. The last exchange visit of the Monterey delegation will be from July 10 - 15, 2006.

Local governments in Croatia are facing an urgent need to invest in capital infrastructure in order to provide services to citizens and to attract and retain businesses. Financing the development and construction of capital infrastructure is a major challenge for these local governments. The conference on "Capital Financing for Local Governments" will try to address this issue. The conference will be presented on June 9 and 13, 2006 in Split (Park Hotel) and Zagreb (Westin Hotel) respectively, starting at 10 AM.

Zagreb, May 19, 2006 – On Monday, May 22, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, Greg Delawie, and the Mayor of Sisak, Dinko Pintarić, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to introduce an e-government system into the City of Sisak. Also attending the ceremony will be United States Agency for International Development (USAID) representatives and members of the Sisak City Board. The event will take place at 11 AM at City Hall in Sisak.

This short-term continuing education program in public administration / management is designed in co-operation with SELECTIO Group, a leading Croatian private company in recruitment and human resources consulting and training. The five-day course "Organizational Development and Modern Human Resource Management in Local Governments" is intended for local government officials in charge of human resource management. The course will take place in Vinkovci from May 29 - June 2, 2006.

We are pleased to announce the second cycle of the five-day course in public administration management "Enhancing Tourism And Entrepreneurship In Local Governments", that will take place at the Šibenik College of Tourism Management in two terms: from April 11-13, and from April 19 -20, 2006. The course is organized by the Šibenik College in cooperation with the USAID's Enhancing SME Performance Project, also called Poduzetna Hrvatska, and Local Government Reform Project.

Zagreb, March 24, 2006 – At the initiative of the City of Sisak, USAID’s Local Government Advisor Tom Rogers will join Mayor of Sisak Dinko Pintarić and members of the Sisak City Board in presentation of e-Government system, developed under USAID’s Local Government Reform Project (LGRP). Presentation will take place in Sisak City Hall on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 14:00 a.m.

We are pleased to announce the second in a series of five-day certificate courses in public administration management, organized jointly by the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) - Center for Public Administration Management - and USAID's Local Government Reform Project. The course e-Government and Local Self-Government is intended for local, county and central government officials, as well as representatives and IT managers in companies. It is designed to highlight the importance of local and regional self-government in delivering public services to citizens 'at a distance', through Internet. The course will take place at ZSEM in Zagreb from March 27 - 31, 2006.    

Zagreb, March 13, 2006 - Jessie Pilgrim, the U.S. electoral law specialist arrived to Croatia as a guest participant in the USAID's Local Government Reform Project. During his stay, Pilgrim shall visit the cities of Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Osijek.

Zagreb, 6 March, 2006. – We invite you to participate at the first roundtable on the results of the Analysis of Local Government Task and Recommendations for the Further Decentralization, that shall be presented to the State and County Administration representatives of Zagreb, Sisak Moslavina and Karlovac counties, as well as to the City of Zagreb. The document describes recommendations of 121 local governments on additional functions that local governments could assume in course of the further decentralization process. The roundtable shall be held at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb, on Thursday, March 9, 2006 starting at 10 am and ending at 2 pm.

With the start of this legislative session of Parliament, USAID has decided to sponsor a new reporting mechanism in order to encourage and intensify policy dialogue on local government issues at Parliament. Therefore, citizen advocacy group GONG and USAID's Local Government Reform Project, are producing two publications: Legislative Alert and Update from the Parliament to inform stakeholders of legislative changes and to increase visibility of local government issues. First issue of the Legislative Alert was released on Februry 16. First Update from the Parliament will be issued end of February and will elaborate the likely impact of the adopted legislation on the existing system of local government, and will also include abbreviated notes from the relevant Parliamentary committees.

Zagreb, February 15, 2006 – We invite you to the teleconference on Communication in Practice: Local Communities in Croatia and the USA between the Faculty of Political Science - University of Zagreb and Cleveland State University. The teleconference will be held on Friday, February 17, 2006 at 14:30 at the Zagreb Graduate School of Economics and Business. With this exchange between community coordinators from Cleveland city neighborhoods and representatives of civil society and local governments in Croatia ends the five-day course on Local Democracy and e-Governance, started at the FPZ in Zagreb on Monday, February 13. The course will be iterated from February 20 - 24 due to participants' great interest.

Zagreb, January 23, 2006 - Government of the Republic of Croatia in cooperation with its development partners: the World Bank, European Commission, United States Agency for International Development and SIGMA/OECD[1], organized a workshop on Decentralization and Public Service Delivery – Croatia and EU Comparative Experiences. The objective of the workshop was to assess progress and provide guidance on fiscal and administrative decentralization in Croatia based on the experiences of EU countries.