Croatia Program Summary: November 2000
OTI's program in Croatia began in
1997 with the understanding that
progressive change in Bosnia and Herzegovina was partly contingent on the intentions of its powerful neighbors. OTI's efforts in Croatia are viewed as elements of a regional peace-building and democratization program.
| 7/97 |
3/00 |
$3,686,036 |
$1,656 |
During 1999 and 2000, most of OTI's support centered around Croatia's parliamentary elections, a pivotal event in that country's history.
To prepare for the elections, OTI worked closely with GONG, an NGO founded in 1996 specifically to monitor elections and educate voters. GONG's early success attracting volunteers and raising public awareness in the Dubrovnik municipal elections convinced OTI of its value as a partner. Over the course of 1999, GONG planned an election monitoring campaign that fielded over 5,000 trained monitors for each of three elections. The total number of volunteers was unprecedented in Croatia. GONG's success led the government to request that it become a permanent part of the electoral process in Croatia.
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| The get-out-the-vote campaign indicated a prize-winning game. The message was that everyone who casts a vote is a winner. |
OTI's program in Croatia also worked closely with a nonpartisan NGO coalition, GLAS '99 (Vote '99), to put together a "get-out-the-vote" campaign. GLAS '99 was formed when four major NGO coalitions, representing women, youth, ethnic minorities, and the environment, agreed to develop the campaign using democratic processes. OTI supported their approach and agreed to provide funds and technical assistance. Collectively, GLAS '99 represented the talents of 140 member organizations.
Beginning in September 1999, the GLAS coalition coordinated a sophisticated and comprehensive campaign urging Croatians to vote. OTI worked with other donors by encouraging them to contribute to the project, ultimately leveraging over $2 million. As a principal donor, OTI helped GLAS define and clarify its nonpartisan message by bringing it together with a professional media team and serving as a source of expertise and information.
The campaign was bolstered by other OTI-funded activities, including "Week Report," a weekly radio show, and a weekly TV show entitled "5 to 12." Both established close ties with the GONG and GLAS '99 campaigns. In addition, OTI supported the creation of "Info-clubs" in war-affected regions. These clubs, which provided access to news and spurred community-building, also became rallying points for campaign volunteer activities. The clubs proved instrumental in generating high voter turnout in areas of Eastern Slavonia where there had been significant intimidation in the wake of the NATO action in 1999.
"International partners, NGOs and media in Croatia all agree that without support from organizations such as OTI, many voters in Croatia would not have had enough objective information to participate in the elections."
- Dr. Maureen Taylor, final evaluation of OTI's Croatia program, September 2000. |
Elections were held on January 3, 2000, and produced a major defeat for the hard-line ruling party. The "get-out-the-vote" campaign resulted in the highest turnout since the 1990 vote for independence, with estimates ranging from 73 percent to 78 percent of the eligible voters participating. In addition to ushering in an opposition government for the first time in 10 years, the election brought new prominence to the role of civil society in a democratic system.
OTI closed its Croatia program in March 2000, handing off its support for civil society to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the British Know-How Fund, and the USAID Mission.
OTI's partners in Croatia included the USAID Mission, the U.S. Embassy, other embassies, the Open Society Institute, Freedom House, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, Ronco, the Information Research and Exchange Board, the EU, the OSCE, the Westminster Foundation, the Mott Foundation, and the British-Know-How Fund.
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