Sarajevo, October 7, 2014 – U.S. Government officials – U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director David Barth and U.S. Military Attaché to BiH Col. Scott Miller – will visit Doboj and Doboj East municipalities on Thursday, October 9, 2014, to highlight the importance of radical transparency in the distribution and implementation of the $14.7 million in flood relief and recovery assistance from the American people.

All media outlets are invited to attend. Transportation to and from Doboj will be provided. A media bus will depart on Thursday, October 9, at 7:45 a.m. from the National Museum parking lot. Please reserve seats on the bus by providing the name and phone number of each journalist by 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 8, via e-mail to usaidsarajevo@usaid.gov or dperanic@usaid.gov.

The U.S. Government is one of the biggest bilateral donors of flood recovery assistance in BiH. Many BiH citizens believe that the flood donations and international assistance will disappear due to corruption and cronyism. This visit is one in a series of regular field trips by U.S. Government officials to meet the citizens of BiH that are receiving that support.

To ensure radical transparency of its Flood Recovery Initiative, USAID is launching an interactive online map (see links below for both English and Bosnian versions of map) that will allow citizens to monitor the progress of USAID flood recovery projects on a daily basis. Through this online map, citizens will be able to zoom in to project locations at the city or street level, read short descriptions of projects and eventually view photos and videos of their implementation.

USAID is inviting other donors, NGOs, local government and the private sector to join this effort by providing data on their own flood recovery efforts. This will make the map a more valuable resource for citizens to help ensure transparency in the spending of public and private flood recovery funds.

To date, the U.S. Government, primarily through USAID, has provided more than $1.6 billion in assistance to support economic, democratic and social progress in BiH.

Link to USAID Flood Recovery Initiative online map (English version)

Link to USAID Flood Recovery Initiative online map (Bosnian version)