CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 119

BEATA BOEHM
confusing new tax and legal regulations, as well as the embargo on the
Serbian side.
Financed by UNHCR, despite a rather difficult start and a few
setbacks, including three different CARE project managers within a short
period, 60 small business enterprises made satisfactory progress and
achieved important direct and indirect successes for the community:
Austrian professional specialists from the Austrian Working Society
for Regional Development trained a group of promising young entrepreneurs
and provided basic knowledge about private economic concepts. The young
entrepreneurs were expected to pass on this knowledge to others in the
region. Joint seminars were planned in Austria for members of both ethnic
groups, but since the Serbian side refused to issue passports, finally separate
local seminars had to be held.
An “information library” was opened, offering information on
Croatian tax and commercial law, banking system, privatization of
nationalized property and issues pertaining to the embargo. The library was
connected to a network of specialists in both Pakrac and Zagreb.
Seed capital was made available for founding private enterprises.
Synergies were created with the CARE “Reconstruction Project”,
especially in the Serb-controlled part of Pakrac, where the embargo made it
difficult to procure basic goods.
In light of the extremely difficult economic environment and absence
of a normal market, in the Serb-controlled part of UNPA West, CARE
decided only to carry out projects, that could be implemented immediately
and that could be organized in a production cycle; in order to guarantee a
sales market for the products, thereby procuring income for the
entrepreneurs so they could re-pay their loans.
On the Croatian side, a “fowl production ring” was created. It
consisted of ten chicken farms, a feed company and a slaughterhouse, a
transport company with a mini bus and another transport firm with vans, and
an agricultural marketing enterprise.
CARE provided the feed company with grain and paid for the
processing. The farmers were given a first delivery of chickens and feed.
The chickens were plucked at the local slaughterhouse in accordance with
Croatian veterinary guidelines. On the basis of commission agreements with
the farmers, the marketing company identified buyers for the chickens in the
Pakrac area. Both transport companies supplied the market. All of these
enterprises were able to offer their products and services to the community.
Thus, the production cycle guaranteed at least one market.
A building production ring was also established, consisting of a
scaffolding firm, a company for construction tools and equipment, a
carpentry shop, and a welding and sheet metal shops. For these enterprises,
the CARE Reconstruction Project and other building activities in the region
represented the market.
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