Upholding Democracy, Empowering Civil Society, the Judiciary, and Increasing Transparency in Croatia

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb aims to support projects focused on increasing the capacity and resilience of civil society and advancing rule of law and transparency in Croatia. These projects should address the following areas:

• Monitoring and Advocacy: Assessing progress in democracy and transparency efforts, advocating for policy reforms, and increasing the capacity and resilience of civil society to counter anti-democratic trends.
• Capacity Building: Enhancing the capacity and resilience of civil society organizations to counter anti-democratic trends, conduct advocacy and research, and serve as effective watchdogs.
• Judicial Training and Reform: Providing specialized training for judges, prosecutors, and investigators to improve adjudication of human rights cases, enhance judicial independence, and strengthen the rule of law. Improving the capacity, accountability and independence of judges, prosecutors, investigators, oversight institutions and lawyers.
• Government Transparency: Increasing transparency in government operations, particularly in public procurement processes, and ensuring that information is freely available and accessible to the public.
• Empowering Citizens and Improving Access to Justice: Enhancing citizen participation in democracy and governance processes, strengthening whistleblower protections to encourage reporting of corruption and wrongdoing, and improving access to justice for all citizens, particularly marginalized communities. Raising public awareness about corruption.

Applicants must clearly define their project goals and outcomes, set measurable project objectives, rationalize their methodology, and identify specific performance metrics. They are strongly encouraged to formulate sustainable, impactful projects aligning with their organizations' long-term goals, incorporating a robust public communication strategy. Proposals should address potential implementation challenges and detail strategies for risk mitigation. Eligible projects and applicants must maintain political neutrality, refraining from affiliations or endorsements of any political entities.