Democracy assistance has gained a prominent role in the framework of development ass-istance provided by the V4 countries. Notably, the amount of funds earmarked by them for democracy assistance has been increasing over the years. Moreover, BiH is explicitly regarded as a priority country in terms of foreign policy focus and democracy assistance for three V4 countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Nevertheless, the practical and financial realities of their policies do not always reflect the fact that BiH is supposed to be a priority country. The following section evaluates the democracy assist-ance policies in BiH for each V4 country based on the research undertaken in the V4 countries within the framework of the PASOS research study, on information provided by the respective V4 embassies in BiH, and feedback from local recipients of V4 assistance.
Poland
In 2003, Poland’s government approved the Strategy of Polish Co-operation for Develop-ment for 2004-2006, which indicated that Polish aid would focus on poverty reduction, humanitarian aid and technical assistance. Recently, the Department of Development Assistance of Poland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs drafted Solidarity, Development and Freedom: Strategy of Polish Foreign Assistance for 2007-2015 (Strategy 2007-2015), which is now under discussion at the inter-ministerial level. Democracy assistance is a relatively new policy area within the field of Polish development assistance, but its role will grow - given that the new draft Strategy 2007-2015 devotes a separate chapter to it and gives it a status of equal importance alongside classic development and humanitarian assistance.
The focus of the Polish government’s development assistance has primarily been post-communist and post-communist countries (with the notable exception of Iraq). In 2005, for example, the top aid recipients were Serbia, Uzbekistan, and China. The 2003 Strat-egy for 2004-2006 seemed to qualify BiH as a potential recipient country given that the priority countries were noted to be those “countries undergoing political transform-ation, including in particular eastern and south-eastern European countries”, as well as
Part II Visegrad Four Democracy Assistance Policies in Target Countries Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Closely Watched Democracy - Sanida Kikić The projects are proposed by NGOs in the Czech Republic for the countries in question, and are selected based on their quality. In order to qualify for funds, applications must meet a general requirement that any projects implemented in countries receiving develop-ment assistance must have the active involvedevelop-ment of partner organisations from the target country.
Of all the V4 embassies, the Czech Embassy is the most involved in democracy assistance activities in BiH. Despite the relatively small staff of four diplomats (including the Ambas-sador), the embassy pursues a variety of activities that serve to strengthen democracy in BiH. Notably, the Czech Republic’s strategy for development assistance has shifted from prioritising the Czech Republic’s interests to now focusing on the needs of the countries where assistance is given by the Czech Republic.
The Czech Embassy is primarily involved in democracy assistance activities in BiH through its grants programme and through its student scholarship programme. The small-grants programme has been running for three years, with an annual budget of € 35,000.
The number of projects sponsored per year ranges from four to ten, with the grant per project ranging from € 2,000-5,000. The projects are chosen, based on the quality of the proposals, by a five-person committee, and are sent to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for approval. As noted by the embassy’s representatives, during the three-year duration of the programme, the priority has been, and will continue to be, on youth and children in BiH. Overall, the importance of this programme is greater than indicated by the amount of funds dedicated to it, since the sponsorship of local NGOs by an embassy gives these NGOs credibility and often results in their further growth and strengthening.
The embassy also sponsors BiH students’ university and post-graduate studies in the Czech Republic. The programme is run by the Head of the Development Department in the embassy, who is responsible for choosing BiH students for scholarships, and helping them with all aspects of their studies in the Czech Republic. This programme has evolved from sponsoring one student three years ago to now sponsoring about 50 per year. The students’ tuition and living expenses are completely covered for the full duration of their studies. This scholarship programme is extremely beneficial as it gives BiH youth, some of whom have never been outside the country, the opportunity to explore life abroad. Such experiences are highly valuable, giving young people experience of living in a country that has been through the transition process, and mobilising them in their insistence on bet-ter conditions in BiH, along with quicker progress on the path towards EU integration.
Based on the activities of the Czech government and its embassy in Sarajevo, it is clear that BiH is considered a priority country for the Czech Republic’s development aid, in-cluding democracy assistance. While the funds dedicated to democracy assistance in particular may not be that large, they nonetheless show that the Czech Republic is inter-ested in strengthening democracy in BiH, primarily by focusing on youth and education activities. Additionally, the creation of the 2006-2010 Development Strategy for BiH and Commission’s Delegation to BiH. The project’s aim is to present to BiH citizens the idea of
a unified Europe by engaging ambassadors of EU member states represented in BiH to go to a municipality and speak on this theme.
Overall, for the above reasons, Poland has not contributed development assistance or democracy assistance to BiH in a systemic way, but it is engaged to some degree in aid-ing BiH with dealaid-ing with the consequences of war, and with the transfer of knowledge related to the transition to democracy and to EU integration.
Czech Republic
Since 2002, the Czech Republic has steadily increased the size of its total ODA, within which democracy assistance now features as one of the Czech Republic’s most important foreign policy priorities. Notably, in 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs created the Tran-sition Promotion programme concept specifically focused on official democracy assistance policy. The main goals of the strategy include democratisation and society transformation of the target countries in order to “enhance security, stability and prosperity”.
The target countries of the Czech Republic’s democracy assistance are:
developing countries and countries in transition, ranging from post-Soviet countries
• (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia) to the Balkans (Serbia, BiH) and Iraq; and countries with undemocratic regimes that undermine human rights (Cuba, Belarus, and
• Burma).
Overall, the target countries for the Czech government’s democracy assistance pro-grammes correspond to the Czech Republic’s foreign policy priorities.
The majority of the Czech Republic’s democracy assistance funding has gone to Belarus, Ukraine, and Iraq. For example, in 2006, most of the attention was focused on Belarus, in large part because of the presidential elections taking place that year. However, in subsequent years, the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sought to focus more on supporting project work in the countries of the Western Balkans, including BiH.
While the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a Strategy for BiH Development for 2006-2010, democracy assistance is not included as a priority area. The focus of the development is instead on three specific fields: agriculture, infrastructure related to travel, and the economy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsors large-scale projects related to these three fields, and the government has set aside approximately € 2m yearly for carry-ing out the Strategy goals for BiH for the period 2006-2010.
Additionally, the Czech Republic has a fund that supports countries in transition - for which BiH qualifies. As part of that fund, the Czech government has set aside ca € 1m annually.
the evaluation of the projects. The embassy plans to continue sponsoring such projects in 2008, with approximately the same budget as in 2007.
In addition to the involvement of the Hungarian Embassy, other actors - including certain Hungarian NGOs and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - are also active in BiH as is evident from their project work. The specific projects in question were the “Viseg-rad to Viseg“Viseg-rad” programme, implemented by the International Centre for Democratic of the Development Department in the Czech Embassy indicate that the country is
comm-itted to providing development and democracy assistance in a systemic and strategic manner.
Hungary
Hungary’s international development co-operation strategy includes BiH as a target coun-try and defines it as a “strategic partner”. With regard to Hungary’s democracy assistance strategy, the target country selection process focuses on countries that are:
in the geographical and political areas of interest for the Hungarian government;
• in the process of democratic transition;
• where Hungary has a comprehensive knowledge of the social and political landscape;
• and
where Hungary’s involvement is positively regarded.
•
BiH is one of the main priority countries for Hungary’s international development assist-ance, along with Serbia and Vietnam. Currently, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is for the first time working on a four-year country strategy for BiH. Such a strategy will be crucial to placing Hungarian development/democracy assistance for BiH on a more comprehensive and long-term footing.
Even though Hungary’s assistance budget is not as large as that of other donors in BiH, the Hungarian government is nevertheless involved in assisting BiH through various ways.
Hungary invests funds in infrastructure projects, such as the building of water treatment plants in two municipalities16 and the reconstruction of the old city hall in Sarajevo.17 Hungary is also actively involved in the field of justice and home affairs in BiH through the Budapest Forum. Furthermore, the Hungarian Embassy is directly involved in development assistance in BiH through the small-scale funding of local NGO projects.
The embassy undertook the small-scale funding of local NGO projects in 2007 with a budget of € 16,000, from which they sponsored five projects. This relatively recent under-taking by the embassy has been, and continues to be, a learning process. Interestingly, the Hungarian Embassy received advice from the Czech Embassy, which has been running a small-grants programme for the past three years.
Most of the five projects sponsored by the Hungarian Embassy in 2007 can be regarded as democracy assistance.18 The projects were submitted to the Hungarian Embassy by local NGOs, but the selection process is slow. Once the five projects were selected by the embassy, they were sent for approval to a co-ordinating body within the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Upon approval of the requested funds by the Ministry, the embassy then works on monitoring and evaluating the projects and submitting reports to the Ministry. Currently, the embassy is working on finding a simplified mechanism for
CALLED TO ACCOUNT:
HUNGARIAN LESSONS IN NGOS’ SELF-REGULATION
The Hungarian organisation, the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), took part in a project meant to promote sustainable development of the non-profit sector in BiH.
The project, “Sustainable Development of the Non-Profit Sector in BiH through Partner-ship with Government and Business Sectors”, was crucial to the improvement of relations between the civil society sector and the gov-ernment, and was sponsored by USAID/BiH and a number of other donors, such as the OSCE and the Open Society Fund of BiH.
The project lasted from May 2004 to April 2007, during which time BiH NGOs and representatives from other sectors worked to strengthen the self-regulation of the non-profit sector in BiH and the relationship between the non-profit sector and the government.
The Civil Society Promotion Center (CSPC) in Sarajevo took the lead in implementing the project and worked with other local NGOs through the coalition “To Work and Succeed Together”, and their staff worked with ECNL on this important project. Notably, the ECNL representative participated in roundtables that discussed the main aspects of the project with local NGOs across BiH, as well as with business and government-sector participants.
ECNL was instrumental in working on the four crucial documents that were produced
during the course of the project: Agreement on Co-operation between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Non-Governmental Sector in BiH, Code of Conduct for Non-Governmental Sector in BiH, Co-operation Quality Standards between the Government and the Non-Governmental Sector in BiH, and the Strategic Directions of Development for the Non-Governmental Sector in BiH.
The ECNL has a very good working relation-ship with CSPC, and they have co-written a number of brochures and laws on issues related to ECNL’s area of expertise. Interest-ingly, ECNL has also trained one of the CSPC staffers in non-profit law, but that individual left the organisation to work in the United States.
Such a development is not a great surprise given that many young, educated individ uals who receive opportunities to work abroad usually take them, contributing to a general brain-drain of BiH’s best and brightest minds.
Still, the continued co-operation between CSPC and ECNL demonstrates how demo cracy ass-istance can produce substantial results when it is demand-driven and when the transfer of knowledge takes place in a collegial and co-operative environment. For example, ECNL has introduced Hungary as an example of how municipalities should work with NGOs, and CSPC has been able to learn from the Hungarian experience in this area and apply those lessons to BiH’s situation.
Part II Visegrad Four Democracy Assistance Policies in Target Countries Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Closely Watched Democracy - Sanida Kikić Transition and funded by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the “Sustainable Development of the Non-Profit Sector in BiH through Partnership with Government and Business Sectors”, supported in part by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law.
Overall, the Hungarian government and NGOs have demonstrated that BiH is a priority country for their democracy assistance. The development strategy for BiH, currently being drafted by the Hungarian government, is am important step towards assuring the provi-sion of quality democracy assistance. Based on the project work of the Hungarian NGOs researched for this study, it seems that the projects that respond to specific demands from the BiH counterparts end up being a lot more successful in bringing about change than those projects that do not adequately reflect the needs of the BiH counterparts.
Slovak Republic
The Slovak Republic assigns high importance to development assistance in general, and to democracy assistance in particular. Slovak ODA was outlined in the Mid-Term Strategy of Official Development Assistance for 2003-2008. The most important goal outlined in this strategic document is the “transfer of Slovakia’s experience and know-how” in all sectors of society: political, economic, and social. The development assistance strategy targets 13 countries in particular, of which BiH is one. Between 2002-2004, Slovakia’s development assistance projects were administered by the Bratislava-Belgrade Fund and by the Slovak-UNDP Trust Fund. In 2007, the Slovak Agency for International Develop ment Co-operation (SAMRS) was established by the Slovak government to undertake project management of ODA and the administrative duties of previous funds. The grant round at the end of 2007 did not select any projects in BiH.
The top priority of the Slovak development assistance strategy is “developing democratic institutions and a market environment”, followed by infrastructure, environment, and food security. The Slovak development assistance funds cover bilateral assistance, humanitarian aid assistance, Slovakia’s contributions to international organisations and programmes, grants for foreign students at Slovak universities, and remittance of debt to developing countries.
While there is no independent strategic document for democracy assistance, such as in the case of the Czech Republic, democracy assistance is listed as the number one priority of Slovak ODA. Overall, there has been a focus on structural reforms and civil society in the democracy assistance projects between 2004 and 2006. Additionally, a substantial number of projects are focused on workshops, conferences, seminars, training events and study visits, such as projects carried out by think-tanks and NGOs.
In general, Western Balkans countries are considered to be one of the priority targets for Slovakia’s foreign policy, as well as for its development assistance policy. Despite limited funds, the perception is that funds should be invested in Western Balkan countries MODELS OF REGIONAL
CO-OPERATION: A WESTERN BALKANS VISEGRAD FUND?
The “Visegrad to Visegrad” programme was formulated and carried out by the Inter-national Centre for Democratic Transition in Budapest (ICDT), and was funded by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The objectives of the project were to “explore the possibilities of the adaptation and transfer of the political, institutional and, as and where applicable, sectoral experiences of Visegrad Four co-operation in the Western Balkans”.
The project involved government and civil society representatives from the Western Bal-kans countries (Albania, BiH, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia).
The project lasted from June 2006 to March 2007, during the course of which three ex-pert meetings were organised in the form of workshops and conferences aiming to deter-mine the regional needs and to facilitate interregional experience transfer.
The Sarajevo meeting in June 2006 served as a forum for representatives from the Viseg-rad Four and the Western Balkans countries to discuss ways in which Visegrad Four EU integ ration experience, as well as Visegrad Four regional co-operation, could be trans-ferred to the Western Balkans. During the meeting, the idea of creating a “Western Bal-kans Visegrad Fund” was introduced.
During the Skopje meeting in March 2007, case studies and best practices from Vise grad Four experience in advancing local develop-ment in rural areas in the Stabilisation and Association Process countries were pre-sented. The idea of creating a LEADER-based capacity-building programme was introduced during this meeting. Sub sequently, ICDT is preparing a feasibility study regarding the
operation of the “Western Balkans Visegrad Fund”, and is also preparing a proposal on launching a local development capacity-building project based on the EU’s LEADER programme.
Representatives from the BiH Ministry of For-eign Affairs and the Directorate of European Integration who participated in the Sara-jevo conference were reluctant to endorse the idea of the “Western Balkans Visegrad Fund”. They noted that regional co-operation in the Balkans has been ongoing for some time now. For example, there is the GTZ19 Regional Partnership Initiative - the so-called Budapest Forum - which is spearheaded by the Visegrad Four plus Austria and Slovenia, and which is meant to help transfer their ex-perience to the Stabilisation and Association Process countries within six specific fields of co-ordination. Hungary was very active in launching the initiative and is heading the internal and justice affairs chapter.
Additionally, the recently established Regional Co-operation Council (RCC) is expected soon to become the main focus for regional co-operation, with its headquarters in Sarajevo.
Notably, the RCC is strong politically, and has the full support of the Stabilisation and Association Process countries.
The competencies of the RCC amount to six specific areas, some of which are relevant for strengthening democracy in the participating countries. Moreover, support for the “Western Balkans Visegrad Fund” would be essential on the part of major political leaders in all of the countries concerned. Given the fora for regional co-operation that already exist, it might be difficult to gather the necessary moment for the support for the “Western Bal-kans Visegrad Fund”, unless the purpose of the Fund was substantially differentiated from the other fora for regional co-operation.