Poverty Reduction in Croatia

The Croatian War of Independence, which took place in the early 1990s, damaged the country’s economic infrastructure and displaced large numbers of people. The following years saw a growing disparity in wealth and higher numbers of people at risk of poverty. In 2013 - after a decade-long application - Croatia joined the EU and began to see its economic growth reignited.

According to the World Bank, Croatia is now ahead of its targets of poverty reduction - the percentage of people at risk of poverty is ‘firmly on a downward path but remains above the EU average’. Its unemployment rate is dropping but remains persistently higher than other EU countries; according to Project World Impact, the estimated number of people below the poverty line in Croatia is 19.5%.

There are many organizations working towards poverty reduction in Croatia and an increase in equality amongst the country’s most vulnerable. Here is a spotlight on four of them.

Caritas Croatia

Officially founded in 1992 in response to the humanitarian needs of the people affected by the Croatian Homeland War of the early 1990s, Caritas Croatia works towards poverty reduction in Croatia and the promotion of solidarity and social justice.

Caritas’s efforts branch out across Croatia. For example, the organization maintains a presence at Hotel Porin - a large socialist-style hotel on the outskirts of Zagreb that serves as a reception center for asylum seekers. Over 600 people are housed here, and supported by Caritas to integrate into Croatian life through language classes and assistance finding work.

The charity has also raised 100s of 1000s of euros to provide safe and dignified living conditions to people made homeless by the 2020 earthquake that struck 30 miles south of Zagreb. Over 8 months, Caritas helped up to 200 households affected over a 2000 square kilometre radius, providing accommodation as well as financial and technical help for those repairing their homes.

SOS Children’s Villages Croatia

SOS Children’s Villages was founded in 1949 with the aim to care for the children of a post-World War 2 world. In the 70 years since then, they have helped nearly 4 million children in over 130 countries. They turned their attention to Croatia in 1992, working to improve the conditions of children living there ever since.

SOS Children’s Villages report that, of the 700,00 children in Croatia, 1 in 5 are at risk of poverty and 2,500 are in care. With poverty and unemployment cited as key drivers of these figures (Croatia’s young people are twice as likely to be unemployed, at a rate of around 15%), poverty reduction becomes a key focus of the charity’s work.

SOS Children’s Villages take a 5-pronged approach to poverty reduction in Croatia: prevention, protection, emergency relief advocacy, and safeguarding.

The charity’s prevention efforts work to strengthen families and ensure that children can remain in an economically stable home - this is achieved through workshops, counseling and education, and mental health support; it protects children by providing mentoring, training and career coaching to reduce youth unemployment, as well as by providing alternative care for displaced children or children who have lost parental care; it provides emergency relief for children in various emergencies, including the 2020 earthquake; it advocates for children's rights and sustainable futures; and finally, it safeguards children, ensuring that those who have lost parental care are well looked after.

Domine

It remains impossible to discuss poverty reduction in Croatia without mentioning gender inequality, due to the fact that gender wage gaps, unpaid care work, educational access and healthcare all mean that women make up a disproportionate majority of the world’s poor.

Gender equality organization Domine are well aware of this, and are working hard to promote women’s rights, poverty reduction, social inclusion and an increase in economic status for women in Croatia. Founded in 2002, it runs three main programs to enable this:

• Economic and political empowerment: Domine creates more opportunities for women to get involved in the labor market, for example, starting their own businesses. They also work with female politicians, providing enlightening research to assist with law-making.

• Youth Inclusion: Domine develops programs for students that convey knowledge about gender equality, human rights and democracy, thus actively including young people in civil society and the fight for women’s rights.

• Educational Research: Since 2007, Domine has conducted research on violence against women with a focus on Dalmatia, with a goal to improve its monitoring and educate people on how to recognize it.

The Croatian Red Cross

The Croatian Red Cross was founded in the 1800s and is part of the IFRC, the world’s largest humanitarian network. The organization works to provide first aid, assistance to migrants, health protection, community programs and more.

One branch of the Croatian Red Cross focuses its efforts on the eastern region of Slavonia, one of the poorest regions in the European Union. It has the lowest GDP, highest unemployment rate, and the lowest average salaries in Croatia; as a result, the region has one of the highest poverty levels.

Here, the Red Cross provides material help, distributing food parcels and basic material assistance to some of the country’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable people.

It is estimated that project activities have impacted over 22,000 people.