Centre for Development and Support (CRP) was established on July 18th, 2005 as a citizens’ association operating under the law on Associations and Foundations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette BiH No. 327/01 and 42/03). The Association was officially registered on October 10th, 2005 in the Ministry of Justice of BiH based on the decision number RU-354/05, as an organisation working in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been founded by employees of international organisation Mercy Corps that has been present in BiH since 1994, all of whom were, since 2003, national staff members including Mercy Corps director in BiH. Key motive for establishment of a local organisation was a strong intention of its founders to contribute with their knowledge and experience to the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its accession to the European Union.

CRP mission statement: CRP identifies and resolves problems related to economic development, environmental protection and human rights. CRP vision statement is to contribute significantly to the development of BiH to integrate into European structures in the field of economic development, environmental protection and human rights. The organisation follows the principles of team work, partnership with other development stakeholders and continuous capacity building of its staff and members.

CRP highly values in the work of its members and employees creativity, flexibility, professionalism, transparency, accountability, life-long learning and gaining of new knowledge and experiences, capacity building of its partners, associates and beneficiaries and their equal treatment based on the principles of humanity and respect for human dignity.

CRP currently gathers 25 highly educated and skilled active members and founders who participate in the work of the organization as its employees or volunteers from different educational backgrounds and possessing comprehensive practical and theoretical experience in different fields, gained while working for many years with CRP and Mercy Corps. At the same time, while implementing a wide range of its activities and projects, CRP has established a strong network of its external associates specialized in different technical and organizational issues pertaining to certain programme sectors.

Key competencies of CRP employees and members include extensive experience in the following areas:

Designing and project-cycle management: Employees and members of CRP possess a proven capacity, knowledge and experience in designing, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the large-scale projects, gained while working for fifteen years with Mercy Corps and later with CRP. During the earlier period, those projects mainly included reconstruction of houses, technical infrastructure (water supply system, electricity supply, roads) and public buildings (schools, primary health care institutions), economic development programme (assistance to small and medium enterprises, individual entrepreneurs, agricultural cooperatives, etc), capacity building of local authorities aimed at provision of assistance to different target groups, civil society organisations and local community development, etc. These projects were and are funded by the donors such as European Commission (within its programmes CARDS, EIDHR, OBNOVA, DG1, ECHO), The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, UNHCR, USAID, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Embassy in BiH, and many other donors.

Human resources development and capacity building of different target beneficiary categories (returnees, youth, persons with disability, the unemployed, entrepreneurs, etc) and intensive promotion of their existing and new knowledge and skills, through combination of the following:

• Theoretical training;
• Continuous learning with work based on gaining the new experience, including constant mentorship and counselling;
• Study visits in BiH and abroad, aimed at further illustration of topics from theoretical and practical trainings, and deepening of their insight into the relevant matters;
• Active participation of training attendants at the relevant conferences, round tables, business and agricultural fairs (as visitors, and most importantly, as exhibitors of their products);
• Provision of a combined financial assistance to the project beneficiaries, including several mutually related financial and/or in-kind components (own contribution of the project beneficiaries in the form of bank loans or other types of personal contribution; in-kind grant provided from the project funds; additional co-funding from the government subsidies and incentives for certain types of production; investments provided from municipal or cantonal budgets and funds of the relevant market stakeholders). 

Fund raising and development of project proposals in different fields of interest: This segment includes detailed knowledge of standards and procedures of the European Commission and other donors pertaining to the awarding of financial grants, developed through many years of practical experience in this field. To illustrate, CRP employees and members during the past 6 to 7 years, only within the funds of the European Commission, designed and successfully implemented the projects in total value over 20 million Euro.

Practical application of tendering procurement procedures with emphasis on the procedures and requirements of the European Commission;

Good knowledge of socio-economic circumstances within the local environment, including assessment and management of risks in different programme sectors;

Projects management aimed at awarding of grants to organisations actively working in the area of civil society and economy (associations, agricultural cooperatives, small and medium enterprises, and similar) aimed at implementation of their development projects in different areas of interest.

Planning and implementation of practical sustainability measures in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. CRP has extensive experience in improvement of competitiveness of different target groups, achieved through increase of their entrepreneurial spirit, business skills development, strengthening of the access to production resources and support in establishment of business and market connections within the relevant sectors. Basic tools that CRP is utilising in its work include primarily the following:

• Provision of access for target beneficiary groups to production resources needed for their business activities;
• Increase of knowledge of the target beneficiary groups about available funds from government subsidies and incentives;
• Capacity building of target beneficiary groups through provision of technical assistance in the field of business planning and management, marketing, finance-accounting aspects of their businesses, contemporary technologies, legislation, funding sources, quality standards, procurement procedures, etc.;
• Market research and linking of the target groups with the viable market.

‘Cost-benefit’ analysis of the development projects;

Civil engineering;

Funds management;

Development of new and strengthening of the available partnerships with numerous organisations and institutions in the field of economy, civil society and government sector, aimed at further development and improvement of the assistance to target groups;

Cross-border and regional cooperation and networking. CRP has established and intensively develops business cooperation with development agencies from the neighbouring countries and countries in the region. This cooperation is intensively used in implementation of existing and development of future projects.
Development and application of universal monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and practices This includes (a) designing and continuous development of database system, focused on specific projects, aimed at provision of constant information flow during the project implementation, particularly the relevant facts pertaining to the requirements from the project logframe; and (b) updating the databases with detailed and measurable information obtained from the reliable sources.

Reporting: Employees and members of CRP have extensive and proven experience in development of high-quality project reports, illustrating precisely qualitative and quantitative project achievements, including photo reports and films, which additionally document the project implementation.

Methodology of work:

CRP applies in its work the following methodological approach:
·    Prioritization of human resources development, as the most significant success element of the implemented project activities
·    Compliance of our programmes and projects with development strategies at local, cantonal, entity and state levels
·    Promotion of EU standards and guidelines in the relevant spheres that are the subject of certain programmes
·    Establishment of multidisciplinary teams for implementation of certain programmes and projects
·    Setting the development of certain group members as a long-term, phased and strategically-oriented process
·    Intensive inclusion of market carriers as key stakeholders in the relevant market chain into all programme activities
·    Continuous monitoring and evaluation of programme activities aimed at further development and improvement of programmes of the organisation.