Development Association NERDA was registered with the BiH Ministry of Justice as a non-governmental and non-profit organization in May 2004 and officially became operation in January 2005. NERDA acts as a Regional Development Agency for North-East BiH (NE BiH), that comprises of 34 cities and municipalities and Brčko District BiH (total of ca. 1 million population). From the onset of its activities NERDA has been working on strengthening, coordination and promotion of economic development, and through mobilization of internal as well as external resources NERDA has been contributing to development of a strong region, improvement of living standard and competitiveness of the regional economy.
The target group of Development Association NERDA are primarily small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and local governments (cities and municipalities), as well as other levels of governments, universities, NGOs, etc. The main activities of NERDA directed towards SMEs are: managing the Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises, though contracts with investors and partner commercial bank, providing services through the Center for Support and Promotion of Entrepreneurship, managing donors’ development funds deisgned to support SMEs, monitoring trends in priority industrial sectors in the region and opublioshing the findings in the SME barometer brochure, etc.
The main activities directed towards local governments are: continuous building of capacities of local governments through educational courses, trainings and events related to the EU funds and methods for their utilization, project proposals development, strategic planning, providing information on available funds and calls for proposals, assistance in international cooperation, promotional activities and events, etc.
