National Development Strategy Croatia 2030: Roadmap for a Better Future

Weak institutional capacity has led to the slow implementation of key reforms. 
Examples include 
the centralized procurement of medicines, commodities, and devices, for which, although evidence on its 
potential economic impact was available, the Ministry of Health had difficulty implementing it on a larger 
scale. There are challenges in getting full cooperation from hospitals and expediting the process to conclude 
framework agreements, in particular the advancements from the hospitals under the county ownership. 
Hospital functional integration and hospital arrears reforms have suffered from limited motivation on the 
part of hospital management and constrained the ministry from fully designing and implementing actiona-
ble policies.
 
123.
There is little systematic effort to follow up and evaluate the reforms that have been initiated in 
order to inform future work. 
Routine use of data and evidence to inform reform design, implementation 
and continuous course correction is limited. There is a lack of general understanding about the relevance 
and necessity of the evaluation, as well as the specific knowledge on the evaluation practice.
 
B.
Making growth inclusive 
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Higher social and economic cohesion as well as resilience to climate changes are among the most 
significant challenges for Croatia.
Gains from economic growth need to be shared by providing equal 
opportunities and adequate protection to all social groups. Inclusion, therefore, must be at the heart of 
Croatia’s new national development strategy. While sustained economic growth is the most effective way 
to fight poverty and social exclusion, Croatian authorities need to ensure that the social protection remains 
effective. This particularly refers to improvements in the design of social benefits and further strengthening 
of local social welfare centers. Furthermore, the vulnerabilities related to climate change call for additional 
urgency, with the country already facing significant threats, particularly from flooding, with economic 
consequences for tourism and agriculture.
Poverty and social protection
125.