Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks 81st in the Human Development Index, with 14% of the population living below the poverty line. The country continues to struggle economically and politically following the war. Aside from the negative impact on the country’s infrastructure, the conflict also displaced more than two million people. The situation is further complicated by ethnic tension.

Taking into consideration several factors, among them the existing results of the development cooperation, a long track record of friendly relations between the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina and latter’s interest in acquiring some of the experience that the Czech Republic had with the transition processes and EU accession, the framework Programme of Development Cooperation 2011 – 2017 was approved. The Programme’s main aim is to improve the economic and social situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to support its bid for EU accession.

The Czech development cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is concentrated on the following priority sectors:

• Government and civil society.
• Water supply and sanitation.
• General environmental protection.
• Energy generation and supply.
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing.
• Health.

The Czech development cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of:

• Bilateral projects under the Czech Development Agency.
• Local small scale projects under the Diplomatic Mission of the Czech Republic.
• Transition cooperation projects under the Department of Human Rights and Transition Promotion Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Aid for Trade projects under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.
• Security cooperation projects under the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.
• Technical Cooperation Programme focused on the financial and economic transformation under Czech Ministry of Finance.
• Scholarships provided by the Czech government.