e-Government
Croatia has an extensive e-government program, which began in 2003. It is a high priority within the country, and is seen as an integral part of forming an information society. It is coordinated and monitored by the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia. Projects in all areas are underway, including: eTax, eCustoms, eJustice, eHealthcare, eEducation and eCulture. As part of this initiative, they are working to expand broadband internet access throughout the country. The number of broadband internet connections is steadily increasing, and from 2008 to 2009 it went up by 57.6% (E-Croatia, 2006).Education
One of the current education initiatives in Croatia is their participation in the Bologna Process. This European education initiative has 47 participating countries, and Croatia has been a full member since 2001. The aim is to standardize the bachelor -master-doctorate degree process, and develop a common degree framework. This will make it easier for graduates to move from one program to another, regardless of country, without losing their current qualifications.
Since 2004, Croatia has also been working on creating a learning environment, and teaching methods that will include students with special needs in the regular education program (Mirošević, 2007).
Health
The Croatian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is undertaking a reform effort that began in 2009. This was primarily due to a budget deficit, which has been curbed by increasing revenue and decentralizing the health system. Their goal is to improve the quality of health care, provide equal access to health services, and better manage the national waiting list that exists for some services. One of the first steps toward this last goal was the centralized ordering of treatments, which will eliminate the order duplication that was happening before (Health care, 2010).
The World Health Organization recommends that Croatia work on, "Strengthening the core health system functions, scaling up health promotion and disease prevention, fostering environmental safety, and strengthening surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable diseases" (World Health Organization, 2007).
Environment
The Croatian Environment Agency was established in 2002. It has a role in the monitoring and collecting of data on water, air and soil quality, as well as endangered species and habitats. It was created in part to strengthen the infrastructure needed to support environmental policies, but also in order to conform to the environmental protection framework of the EU (Croatian environment, 2005).
Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development is also working on changes that need to be made in order to duplicate the framework required by the EU. One of these measures has been the adoption of the Food Act, with its approach to food safety and quality (Kraljičković, 2009).
References:
(n.d.). About the Bologna Process. Retrieve from http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/
(2005). Croatian environment agency. Retrieved from http://www.azo.hr/Default.aspx?sec=275
(2006). E-Croatia program. Retrieved from http://www.e-croatia.hr/
(2010). Health care. Retrieved from http://www.mzss.hr/zdravstvo_i_socijalna_skrb/zdravstvo
Kraljičković, J. (2009). Croatian agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.mps.hr/UserDocsImages/publikacije/brošura%20-%20Croatian%20Agriculture%20-%20Cho.pdf
Mirošević, J. K. (2007). Inclusive education in Croatia. Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Inclusive_Education/Reports/sinaia_07/croatia_inclusion_07.pdf
World Health Organization. (2007). Country cooperation strategy at a glance. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_hrv_en.pdf
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