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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, hope

The task of UNICEF in Croatia is to ensure that each child gets the support they need to reach their full potential. The goal of the five years’ partnership between the Government of the Republic of Croatia and UNICEF is to increase the quality of life for the most vulnerable children in Croatia. For more information on UNICEF Croatia programmes and impact, please visit our website at https://www.unicef.org/croatia/.

The Mandate of UNICEF in Croatia is to help the country advance child rights so that all children and adolescents can develop, reach their full potential and flourish.  UNICEF does this by providing technical assistance, elevating partnerships, generating knowledge, facilitating intersectoral collaboration, innovating, strengthening systems, supporting in emergencies, and helping with disaster risk reduction.

UNICEF in Croatia is implementing the Country Programme Document (CPD) 2023-2027 and the Biannual Work Plan 2024-2025. The Country Programme Document is structured around the two main decades of a child’s life: the first decade (age 0 to 9) and the second decade (10-19 years of age). Inclusive education is part of both of those pillars, covering Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), primary and secondary education. 

Inclusive education leads to better learning and social outcomes. It refers to a continuous process of creating conditions in which each learner – regardless of ability or social status – has equal opportunity to participate in education, to learn and to flourish. Inclusive education is built around the idea of the constantly changing and diverse needs of learners – both the individual needs of each learner and the needs of the entire learning group. Two main conditions are necessary for enabling inclusive processes in education: on the one hand, the system needs to be set up in ways that promote inclusion and on the other, the school leadership and teachers must have the pedagogic and didactic skills to help students flourish and grow.

The PISA results indicate that the Croatian education system is more equitable than many other education systems that participate in PISA. The equity of the Croatian education system is being challenged by the increased diversity of learners attending it. While many positive developments and investments towards inclusive education in Croatia have been recorded over the past two decades, particularly with the education of Roma, children with disabilities, and talented children, the social groups that still tend to have the most difficulties engaging  with existing opportunities to learn and flourish in Croatian education are often children with Roma and migrant background. In other words: the system requires improvements to provide better learning opportunities for students who speak Croatian as an additional language.

The UNICEF Office in Croatia works with schools that have a high number of Roma students and with schools that have students with a migrant background enrolled – to look for solutions and examples of good practice so that they can be shared with other schools, and so that policies related to the education of Roma and migrant students can be improved.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultant is expected to support the education part of the programme Supporting protection and integration of children and families in migration in Croatia, but also to contribute to programmes oriented at the inclusion of Roma students and the prevention of dropout. The programme involves:

(1) Determining the level of Croatian language competency of migrant students and students who speak Croatian as an additional language

(2) Supporting schools in the educational inclusion of migrant students by promoting lesson observation, mentoring, coaching and creating a culture of constructive feedback on educational practice among teachers

(3) Supporting schools in the social inclusion of migrant students and students who speak Croatian as an additional language by improving parental involvement and cultural sensitivity

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to support teachers and schools in the educational inclusion of students who are at a disadvantage, particularly those who are migrants and who speak Croatian as an additional language. The consultant will work with selected schools with a high number of migrant students and students who speak Croatian as an additional language, write up the learnings from the work with the selected schools to inform decision makers across the county on how to improve integration practices. The consultancy is bound to four regions in Croatia, centring around four major cities: Osijek, Zagreb, Rijeka, and Split. Depending on candidates’ interests and geographic availability, one candidate can be selected for all four regions or up to four candidates can be selected, each covering one area.

MAIN TASKS

Scope of Work/Objectives:

UNICEF Croatia is coordinating the programme Supporting protection and integration of children and families in migration in Croatia. The consultant will guide the programme implementation in:

- Supporting schools with solving curricular challenges and migrant students’ learning outcomes, helping develop more learner-centred education plans

- Strengthening capacities of schools for the social integration of migrant students and students who speak Croatian as an additional language

- Strengthening collaboration between the school and the children’s guardians/parents for the development of specific school-level interventions that will be added to the school curriculum

- Generating a report on programmes and interventions through which schools can support the diverse needs of learners who speak Croatian as an additional language.

The consultant will work closely with selected schools and support them in the educational and social inclusion of students, primarily through work with teachers, headteachers and the school professional teams.  The consultant will be able to access and work with previous documents and tools developed by UNICEF and its partners to integrate students who speak Croatian as an additional language. The consultant will act as a critical friend and help schools develop protocols and tools aimed at better integration of migrant students. The consultant will write up a record of each school case. Those records will serve to develop recommendations to schools and the local, regional and national governments for the inclusion of migrant students into education.

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Education Officer and in consultation with national partners and government officials.

Geographic area: The consultancy would cover four regions of Croatia, centring around the four main cities: Osijek, Zagreb, Rijeka, Split.

Scope of Work:

1. Supporting schools with solving curricular challenges and achieving learning outcomes for students who spaak Croatian as an additional language and migrant students, helping develop more learner-centred education plans

Deliverables:

1. At least five schools that have a large number of students who speak Croatian as an additional language and migrant students enrolled identified and Partnership Agreements with those schools signed - By December 2024

2. Mapped the existing tools and mechanisms of educational inclusion in each of the five schools and presented in a PPT - By December 2024.

3. Developed a Plan of action for each of the five schools to improve teaching and integration of students who speak Croatian as an additional language and migrant students, including a strategy for better parental involvement and presented in PPT - By January 2025

4. Supported five schools in the implementation of the Plan of action by mentoring, coaching, so that at least two steps from each school’s Plan of Action are successfully implemented - By June 2025

5. Coordinated and supported the development of learner-centred lesson plans in the five schools - By June 2025

2. Strengthening capacities of schools for the social integration of migrant students, including those from Ukraine

Deliverables:

6. Supported five schools in the implementation of the Plan of action by mentoring, coaching and establishing tools in each school for a sustainable inclusion of students who speak Croatian as an additional language and migrant students and presented in PPT - By September 2025

7. Completed Case reports for each of the 5 schools - By July 2025

8. Coached school staff and parents on the social dimension of inclusion - By February 2025

3. Developing a report with recommendations for schools, the school governments and the education system for a better inclusion of students in migration

Deliverables (2):

9. Completed a 6,000 words report with an updated self-evaluation checklist and with recommendations for schools, the school governments and the education system for a better inclusion of students in migration - By October 2025

10. Put together a PPT accompanying the written report - By October 2025

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in in Education Sciences, Sociology, Public policy, Anthropology, Psychology, Economics or related Social Sciences, Humanities or Natural Sciences . 
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. 
• A minimum of five (5) of relevant professional experience in education sector planning, coordination and policy formulation, particularly in Croatia (required)
• Proven experience in supporting the development and implementation of educational policies (an asset)
• A good knowledge of regulations and ordinances related to the functioning of schools in Croatia and of school administration and organisation in Croatia ( required)
• Expertise with motivating school staff and capacity development in schools, including facilitation of structured group work and individual coaching and mentoring activities (required).
• A strong commitment to inclusive education, child-centred learning and diversity (required)
• Good analytic and report writing skills (an asset).
• Effective communication skills, with fluency in written and spoken Croatian and English (required)
• Good command of change theories and experience in change management in schools (an asset).
• Experience working with school staff and parents (an asset)
• Knowledge of issues related to the inclusion of children into education who speak Croatian as an additional language is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Please indicate your all-inclusive (lump sum) fees in EUR against the deliverables (10 deliverables) listed above . If there is a need for business travel, the travel costs must be included in consultant fee for every deliverable. The office selects the individual based on the best value for money.

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.