There are several Networks in Croatia:
- The Coordination of NGOs for Children in Croatia
- Green Forum
- Croatian Youth Network – CYN
- Coalition for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
- Croatia Women’s Network
- Croatian Network for Rural Development
- Network of the associations of persons with disabilities
- Coalition of the associations in health
Besides mentioned recognizable networks, there are several non-formal and new networks such as the Network for improvement of status on non-profit media. There are also several CSOs’ Forums in Croatia – forums that gather different CSOs on the regional level to improve status of CSOs in general.
Majority of the mentioned networks were established in the last decade on the initiative of one or few leading CSO/s in domains/sectors of their work (Children and Youth, Environmental issues, Women/Gender equality, People with disabilities, Health issues, Rural development, e.t.c.). The average number of CSOs in smaller networks (such is Croatian Network for Rural Development) is from 7 to 8 while in larger networks (such are Croatian Youth Network or Croatia Women’s Network) is around 45 CSOs.
Some networks are well recognized by the CSOs and the state institutions, ( for example, Croatian Youth Network, Croatia Women’s Network or Coalition of Health Associations) and they are usually invited to be a member of the working bodies when some strategy or Public policy from related field is in the process of drafting by Ministries or Governmental offices covering that field. Also, according to a relatively high number of members for some of them, it is reasonable to conclude that they are visible in public and within their sector of activity so other CSOs which deal with related fields of work are interested to become their members and to share benefits of networking.
On the other hand, networks in Croatia fail to reach and sustain the influence they should and could have and they often experience some of the typical networks difficulties such as: lack of human recourses and dedication of its members, lack of participatory governance and difficulties in gathering their members around joint causes.
Shortfalls of the functioning of networks contributed to a fallowing issue – as a sector: civil society in Croatia is poorly integrated. There is no CSO body or network which can coordinate the diversity of civic voices and interests in order to represent civil society in public and on the political stage. At the sub-sector level, leadership is not evidence. Whatever networks exist, they tend not to be used as a basis to establish a collective strategy. The legitimacy of high-profile professional NGOs which might aspire to fulfill a leadership role within their field of expertise is not accepted in wider CSO circles.
There is no effective civil society forum or national network which provides the whole sector with collective leadership and the individual CSOs’ mechanism for participating in sector-wide debate and communication.
In recent history, there is a more intense development of civil society in Croatia, the non-formal national coalition “Glas 99”, whose member was also the Women Ad-Hoc Coalition, in 1999, left a significant mark by standing up against the government and regime that was completely shouting up our CSOs and public opinion.
From recent developments of civil dialogue mechanisms in Croatia it is hard to point out any network in particular as influential and we can say that some of the leading CSOs in the domain of policy advocacy through some joint interventions that they made influenced the Civil Dialogue the most.
CSOs in Croatia in general, as well as their networks lack capacities for civil dialogue, for policy advocacy and watch-dog activities.