Fifteen years after the end of hostilities in Croatia, some people still live in areas where roads, buildings and the water supply are destroyed and the land is littered with mines. Jobs are scarce.
But 84,000 people in parts of the country affected by war or underdevelopment have had help catching up with more developed areas in the last five years.
Life in the remote Noskovci village drastically improved for 70 elderly and physically impaired people after a project supported by the World Bank hired assistants to take them to the doctor, and help shop, cook and clean. It broke their isolation and created jobs.
The Social and Economic Recovery Project created 1,341 new jobs, almost half of which were filled by women. EUR11 million was generated by small businesses, crafts and cooperatives.
Ceminac, heavily damaged in the war, got its first ever kindergarten and nursery, where 65 children from different backgrounds play and learn together.