The Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia conducted in the period from December 2006 to December 2008 the European Commission's project "Creation of telecentres to support learning, entrepreneurship and access to IS in isolated areas – TELEACCESS".
This project has been designed within the framework of Interreg III B CADSES programme for international cooperation among national, regional and local authorities of the countries within CADSES areas: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Republic of Serbia, Republic of Monte Negro, Macedonia, Moldova, and Ukraine, which as from 1 January 2007 changed the name to „Neighbourhood Programme – NP“. The goal of the project "Creation of telecentres to support learning, entrepreneurship and access to IS in isolated areas – TELEACCESS" was to enable development of the information society in isolated areas of the Republic of Croatia.
Pursuant to the Contract on the grant for creation of Telecenters to support learning, entrepreneurship and access to IS, in isolated areas, concluded on 22 December 2006 between the European Commission and Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia, the implementation of TELEACCESS project in RoC was entrusted to the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia. The total value of the project amounted to 130,467.24 EUR, of which the European Union finances the amount of 117,420.52 EUR. Pursuant to the signed Contract the project was to last for 24 months, from December 2006 to December 2008.
Project implementation By using advanced broadband telecommunication technologies (both satellite and wireless), TELEACCESS project promotes digital era culture among inhabitants in rural areas, demonstrating manners for overcoming present differences and obstacles. This enables isolated and distant areas access to the information society. Likewise, the project includes users into the process of creating and adjusting applications directed to their specific needs, so that they themselves direct and determine telecentres activities, and do not perceive them as imposed solutions. The application is based on the analysis of users needs, cost effectiveness of technological capabilities, alignment with the national strategy and recognition of best practice results. Until the present day, TELEACCESS project has been realised and well-established in Croatia, but also in some EU States – Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Poland.
In short words, the project functions in the manner that it established a Telecentre as the place where citizens can use computers, access Internet and get acquainted with other modern technologies. Telecentre's mission is to educate inhabitants in local and rural areas by means of different interactive workshops and seminars with the aim to broaden their knowledge, improve communication and practical application of new technologies which will, eventually, improve their competitiveness on the labour market. Telecentre is designed as the central point for training and business advancement, where the citizens will, among other things, have the possibility to get acquainted with programmes realised within e-Croatia and on the possibilities of communication via teleconference systems, VoIP, and others. In Telecentre, citizens had the opportunity to attend various interactive workshops and seminars, thereby acquiring, among others, additional knowledge for increasing competitiveness on labour market.
As the result of the project, during 2008 in Croatia two telecentres opened – in Skrad and Vinkovci – as places of free Internet access and for acquiring new and broaden existing knowledge relate to information society. The centres facilitated access to new technologies to the inhabitants of these areas and enabled development of the information society in isolated areas of the Republic of Croatia. In this manner, one of the goals of e-Croatia programme for 2008 has been realised: realisation of e-inclusion, i.e. creation of conditions in which everybody will benefit from the society of knowledge, regardless of geographical, social, generational or any other particularities.