Croatian Portal for development is a member of a global network comprised of 58 national portals under Development Gateway initiative. It is envisioned as a synthesis of:

� Content Consolidation Portal offering participants and visitors access to content from a single point of entry. In this way the portal will fulfill the functions of integrating existing local Internet content, promoting creation of new local content and introducing high-quality global content to Croatian and regional audience.

� Vertal - the so-called vertical portal tailored to a specific vertical market, as its main focus are development processes and activities - with an emphasis on realization of ICTs' potential for development.

� Community and Collaboration Portal with a strong focus on building virtual communities and communities of practice. The portal will include strong elements of distance learning and e-learning, as such type of a portal dovetails best with learning, which is, by its very nature, a profoundly social process. Specific functions will include chat rooms, threaded discussions, forums, self-paced learning tools, virtual workshops, etc.

� Science and research portal � exchange of knowledge and information provides environment conducive for new ideas that would otherwise often remain unrealized due to lack of basic preconditions. Therefore, the portal will have a strong science and research component aiming to respond to new initiatives' and projects' ideas from partners and users, and to create a regional knowledge archive.

Portal prototype, established in 2003, moved into implementation phase in July 2004.

The crucial elements planned for implementation phase are public introduction of the portal [launch], strategic technology improvements and positioning of the portal as a central development initiative through intensive cooperation with top representatives of the most important sectors.