ZAGREB, 9 Feb 2022 - Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović on Wednesday awarded 52 contracts worth HRK 29.8 million to associations that assist people with disabilities in the Zagreb area and northwestern Croatia.

Aladrović said these were the first of 135 contracts that would be signed with civil society associations across the country to finance 79 personal assistance programmes, 29 Croatian sign language interpreter/translator programmes, and 27 seeing companion programmes, "which will improve the everyday life of many of our citizens."

"We can change the perception of persons with disabilities together through concrete action, by ensuring the necessary social services, facilitating access to services and including them more equally in work and the life of the community", the minister said.

Under the new Social Welfare Act, the circle of persons entitled to caregiver status has been expanded, and allowances have been increased to HRK 4,500, adding that the hiring of persons with disabilities would also be increased through financing workshops and incentives in the labour market.

"This year alone, HRK 81 million has been invested in employment incentives and 1,109 persons with disabilities have been included, nearly 30% more than in 2020", Aladrović continued.

This year, the government will focus on two new bills, on inclusive allowance and on personal assistance, which is in Croatia's interest as a welfare state.

The minister also commented on the announcement by the Zagreb authorities that they will extend kindergarten hours to 9 pm with the help of EU funds. He said the government was already financing longer days in kindergartens via the EU Social Fund in many local communities.

"We support that decision and since kindergartens are in the remit of local authorities, we expect the City of Zagreb to do more and better", he added.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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As Novac/Marina Klepo writes on the 26th of October, 2019, in Croatia last year, the guaranteed minimum benefit (which is just a less understood name for social assistance) was received by 1.7 percent of the total population, the lowest share in the last 20 years and probably the lowest share of the population covered by this benefit in the EU.

The reason for the fall in the number and share of social assistance recipients is undoubtedly the large amount of emigration and indeed a certain degree of economic recovery in recent years. However, the figures on the share of recipients by city are perhaps the most forthcoming in showcasing the consequences of many years of unequal development of the state.

Croatia is spatially among the smaller European countries, but the differences between the regions - and often within the regions themselves - are quite incredible: in Knin, for example, 10 times more of the population receives social help than in Šibenik, a mere 50 kilometers away from the county seat, and it's almost 60 times higher than in Pag, Buzet or Korčula. On the island of Pag, 12 out of 5,396 residents receive social assistance, or 0.2 percent of the population. In Obrovac, however, with a population similar to Pag, 242, or 4.2 percent, are on social care, which equals to about 20 times more than in Pag.

Both cities fall under the same Social Welfare Centre in Zadar, a city where the recipient's share is equivalent to 0.6 percent of the population.

The analysis of the share of social assistance recipients clearly spatially divides the state: on the one hand there's the the coast and north of the country, on the other, the east and inland.

In the northern counties - Krapina-Zagorje, Zagreb, and Varaždin - the proportion of recipients in any covered area rarely, if at all, exceeds 1 percent of the population. It is important to note that the proportion of recipients does not refer solely to the territory of the aforementioned cities, but to the territory covered by the social welfare centre in that city, which usually involves a much wider area. This is also explained by the high share of recipients in Čakovec - more than 4 percent - because it also includes poorer Roma settlements.

The city of Knin still has the largest share of recipients, with every 9th inhabitant, or 11.7 percent of them, living on social welfare. Neither city is close to Knin as recipient: Topusko is second with 6.7 percent of recipients receiving this benefit.

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