Sectors	Regional and territorial cooperation
EU Acquis Chapters	Other issues
EU funds	201 377 €
Implementation period	2011 - 2024
Categories	Climate action ;  Digital ;  Civil society;  Gender (Mouse hover to see significance)

The Sava River Basin spreads across 4 borders, being under jurisdiction of 5 different countries. On the state level, four of these countries (Slovenia, Croatia, BiH and Serbia) have signed a Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin, and formed the International Sava River Basin Commission. At the same time, all these countries are already in the EU or approaching the full membership, which have set up high environmental standards to which all of them need to adjust. This project aims at contributing to a common vision and public participation in environmental decision making process in the cross-boundary region of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Specifically, the project is to animate and educate public to actively participate in the forthcoming creation of the cross-border Sava River Basin Management Plan (SRBMP) and to contribute that the key decision makers recognise the public as an equal partner in the process.

1. Water management stakeholders acting in the target cross-border area gained knowledge on the key Water Framework Directive (WFD) elements and principles of public participation in environmental decision making, with a view to further explore high potential for trans-boundary interaction. During the project implementation, 347 persons representing 183 institutions and organisations from both countries gained relevant knowledge through participation in any of 19 awareness-raising, educational, and consultative events (5-day Water Framework Directive seminar, 8 educational workshops, 10 consultative meetings). 2. Increased awareness of citizens in the target cross-border area on the sustainable management of the shared water resources, in framework of WFD and EU accession. The citizens in the target cross-border area were key beneficiaries of strong media campaign implemented within the project as 30 media were covering project activities. This included intense broadcasting of the audio-visual materials produced within the project (documentary film and accompanying radio-broadcast, TV spots and radio jingles), provision of free media coverage of the project events, and several TV and radio talk shows with both Project Managers being the key participants, and ensuring active representation of water-management issues during relevant international days. The media campaign was of the strongest intensity in the period from December 2011 – April 2012, during the official public consultations on the first draft of the Sava River Basin Management Plan, managed by the Sava Commission. 3. Practical model for bottom-up public participation in cross-border context of the Sava River Basin produced and provided to international and national decision makers responsible for ensuring active public involvement in sustainable water management 4. Cross-border Project Team as an authentic constituent of the public engaged in constructive dialogue with the decision makers, aiming to enhance their acceptance for active public involvement in the forthcoming process of creation of the Sava River Basin Management Plan (SRBMP) 165 water-management stakeholders attended at least one among 10 consultative meetings on the draft Sava River Basin Management Plan and provided their comments to the Project Team, which created and submitted to the Sava Commission the official document of comprehensive Public Comments (43 comments) on the draft Plan, based on comprehensive process-commenting management excel database. Also created and submitted to all decision makers and participating stakeholders was the Positioning Paper on the quality of public participation in Croatia and BiH in the process of creating, by the Sava Commission the first Sava River Basin Management Plan.