ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Over 12 million kuna (€1.6 million) will be allocated for projects which civil society associations are going to implement for the development of local communities, the Croatian government's Office for Cooperation with NGOs reported on Tuesday.

The office announced that the ceremony at which the grants will be awarded will be held at 1400 hours today. The grants will be given to 20 associations.

The office recalls that the government has launched a HRK 120 million (€16 million) scheme called  "Strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to respond to the needs of the local community" for projects designed to contribute to the even regional development and to the economic and democratic development of the country.

Specifically, the scheme "seeks to strengthen the capacity of CSOs active in local communities to implement activities tailored to local problems and to work directly in areas funded by the European Social Fund (employment, education, social inclusion, good governance) at the local level, but also improve the capacity of civil society organizations to provide an effective response to the needs of the local community in crisis situations."

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - On the occasion of Meatout Day, observed on 20 March, Croatia Animal Friends urge Croatians not to buy a lot of unnecessary food stocks and to switch to the cereals-based diets.

Switching to the meatless diets in the circumstances of the Russian invasion of Ukraine  can also help prevent a possible crisis in food availability, this NGO said in a press release issued on Saturday.

Russia's military aggression against Ukraine has triggered off fears that there will be food shortages, supply chains' disruptions and consequently basic cereals' price rises, the NGO says calling on the general public to think about healthy vegetarian nutrition so as to put an end on the slaughter of animals.

The association says that the benefits can be proved mathematically.

For instance, the production of one kilo-calorie of beef or lamb requires 100 times more land than  what is necessary for the production of cereals.

In order to produce a kilo of meat, 15,000 litres of water is necessary, whereas 100 litres of water is required for a kilo of cereals, it added.

The NGO warns that the excessive purchase of food is a senseless way to address the issue of food shortages that could be caused by the war in Ukraine, known as the "breadbasket of Europe",  We should be more aware of the repercussions of meat-producing industry and cease eating meat, says the Croatia Animal Friends.

MeatOut was started in 1985 by Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM) in the USA to promote a conversation questioning the consumption of animal products around the world. March, 20 was selected as symbolic of renewal and turning over a new leaf at the start of spring.

ZAGREB, 1 Feb 2022 - The travelling exhibition called "Memory of Nations" about 12 people who survived the periods of large-scale displacements and changes of borders in the wake of the Second World War was staged in Zagreb on Tuesday.

The multilingual and multimedia exhibition, staged on a truck, is staying near the Trg Francuske Republike Square until 21 February. After Zagreb, the next stops are Dresden, Wrocław and Prague. It was already staged in Bratislava.

The exhibition, prepared as part of a project called "Inconvenient Mobility" by associations from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Slovakia, brings stories and experiences of individuals who migrated after the Second World War due to changes of borders, political decisions, and the war and post-war legacy.

The Croatian NGO included in this project is Documenta, which has done five interviews with witnesses who speak about the migrations of local Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.

The other stories in the exhibition are about displaced persons from Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine, said Documenta leader Vesna Teršelič today in Zagreb.