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The Neighbourhood Programme

The Neighbourhood Programme is Denmark’s bilateral programme for EU’s neighbouring countries to the East and Southeast. On this page you can read about how the programme supports Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Inclusive Financial Services in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014-2018, Total 60 million DKK, BiH 53 mio. DKK):

The private sectors in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are dominated by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with poor access to financial services, which undermines their ability to grow and generate much needed jobs and income. The limited interest and ability of the financial sectors to extend financial services to MSMEs are caused by a number of factors, including restricted access to refinancing on the commercial markets, inadequate knowledge about the MSME sector and inadequate management capacity in the banks and micro-finance institutions. The support to the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) will address these constraints by two components: (1) credit lines for additional MSME and low-income housing lending by micro-finance institutions and banks (Partner Lending Institutions; PLIs) and (2) capacity development of the financial sectors by strengthening the sectors’ ability to sustainably serve MSMEs, improve corporate social responsibility as well as the general framework conditions.

Support for reform of the public sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (DKK 30 mil. 2013-2017):

The aim is to support reform processes in the public administration in order to improve services to citizens and businesses. This is also important for the country's EU integration. The reforms stems from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national reform strategy. With contributions from the EU, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany there has been established a fund to support the core areas of the reform strategy. Furthermore, support is given to chosen civil society organizations, which task is to monitor the reform efforts.

Danish support to the resettlement of refugees in the Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina (total DKK 10 mil. 2013-2018):

The refugee status has remained undecided for a large group of the millions of people who were displaced during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia have, with the support of the international community (including the UNHCR and OSCE), formulated a common regional resettlement program, which aims to ensure a lasting settlement of approximately 73,500 refugees and internally displaced persons. There has been established a donor fund in support of the implementation of a resettlement program with input from a variety of donors. The fund is administered by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). Denmark provides DKK 10 mil.

Read more: http://www.regionalhousingprogramme.org/