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Private Initiatives, Governance and Service Delivery at Local Levels – New Developments within the Childcare Services in Zagreb

This chapter focuses on recent changes in childcare policy in Zagreb, in particular the changing role of the nonprofits in policy making and provision of child care services, as well as the emerging active role of parents and other relevant CSOs as new policy actors at local levels. Preschool child care services is one of the early decentralized social policy areas in Croatia, resulting in significant regional disparities and inequalities regarding accessibility and affordability of services, but also in trends of privatization and pluralization of service providers. Child care services was one of the first areas where welfare mix emerged and developed. Concerning the main trends and changes in child care provision in Zagreb, alongside with the growth of private non-profit initiative, there has also been a visible growth in the subsidies to private kindergartens from the local government. The new mix in providers that emerged posed new challenges to local welfare systems in terms of re-framing financial and regulatory frameworks of childcare policy, but also accentuating the need for the new culture of governance and for opening towards citizens and nonprofits in policy making. Recent developments in child care services governance in Zagreb highlight the strengthened role of some prominent CSOs, most notably parents’ associations, which serve as one of the rare example of mobilization of service users in advocacy regarding local welfare policies.

Child care services, non-profit organizations, governance, civic initiatives, parents’ organizations, Zagreb

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