The scientific journal Development Policy Review has published the article “Croatia’s Transition from Aid Recipient to Donor: Building a Small-Donor Development Policy under EU and OECD-DAC Norms”, authored by Jakša Puljiz and Matea Roknić.
The article examines how Croatia, following its accession to the European Union in 2013, developed its international development cooperation system and transitioned from being a recipient of international aid to becoming a provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA). The research is based on an analysis of legislation, strategic documents, annual reports on the implementation of development cooperation, and data on 929 bilateral projects implemented between 2020 and 2024, with a total value of approximately EUR 270 million. The study analyses geographical and sectoral priorities, financing instruments, implementation channels, and the role of technical assistance and the transfer of Croatia’s transition and post-war experiences.
The findings show that Croatia has made significant progress in increasing its development assistance and aligning its development cooperation system with European and international norms. Total Official Development Assistance reached EUR 214.94 million in 2024, equivalent to 0.22% of Croatia’s Gross National Income (GNI). This brings Croatia closer to the European Union’s collective target, according to which Member States that joined the EU after 2002 are expected to allocate 0.33% of GNI to development assistance by 2030. Bilateral aid, in particular, increased substantially, rising from EUR 16.2 million in 2020 to EUR 88.6 million in 2024. The analysis demonstrates that Croatia’s bilateral development cooperation has been strongly focused on its immediate neighbourhood and crisis-affected areas. In 2020, the Western Balkans received 57.4% of Croatia’s bilateral aid, while following the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, almost two-thirds of bilateral assistance in 2022 was directed to Ukraine. By 2024, the Western Balkans had once again become the principal destination, accounting for 45.7% of bilateral assistance, while Ukraine continued to receive a substantial share of 33.5%.
Bosnia and Herzegovina occupies a particularly prominent position within Croatia’s development cooperation. Between 2020 and 2024, it received approximately 90.5% of Croatia’s total bilateral assistance to the Western Balkans. Within the sectoral allocation of aid to the region, education and culture accounted for the largest share (48.3%), followed by health (24.4%).
The article also highlights a discrepancy between Croatia’s declared comparative advantages and their visibility in official statistics. Although Croatia identifies its experience in European integration, post-war reconstruction, demining, institution-building, and knowledge transfer as key strengths, technical assistance financed from the state budget declined from EUR 1.06 million in 2020 to only EUR 440,000 in 2024, representing just 0.2% of total Official Development Assistance. The authors stress that this does not necessarily mean Croatia is no longer transferring its knowledge and expertise. Rather, most such activities are implemented through European Union programmes such as Twinning and TAIEX, and are therefore recorded as EU development assistance rather than as Croatian ODA.
The article recommends establishing a unified national register of development assistance, humanitarian aid, and technical cooperation; introducing mandatory classification of projects according to strategic and geographical priorities; developing a monitoring and evaluation system to assess development results; and systematically strengthening the capacity of public institutions to apply OECD-DAC reporting rules. According to the authors, these measures would improve the management of Croatia’s development cooperation portfolio and provide a clearer link between Croatia’s specific expertise and tangible development outcomes.
The article is available on the Wiley Online Library website:
