National Consultant – Community Engagement Support for the Implementation of Akelius Programme; 1 consultant; Remote/Home-based with occasional travel, 70 working days

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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, education.

The Akelius digital learning application is a tool for fun language learning which presents rich interactive content in a gamified learning environment. Users of the application go through various types of activities which use thousands of micro-steps with instant feedback on progress to individualize learning. This digital learning application is implemented within classrooms in multiple countries with the support of UNICEF country offices, including UNICEF Bosnia and Herzegovina. By implementing the Akelius digital learning application in non-formal and formal educational settings in Una Sana and Sarajevo cantons, UNICEF documented that using the digital application in a blended learning approach in classrooms was especially useful for personalizing learning and supporting children with diverse learning levels and needs. To continue supporting BiH authorities in the blended learning improvements, UNICEF will scale up the Akelius digital language programme to two schools in Tuzla Canon. The two identified schools have a high attendance of vulnerable students, including Roma girls and boys. Therefore, UNICEF aims to support schools with an effective and accessible digital solution to support inclusive quality language education.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this assignment is to support the quality implementation of the Akelius digital language programme in two selected schools in Tuzla Canton (primary school Kiseljak Tuzla and primary school Kreka Tuzla).

This implies two-folded responsibilities:

a) support inclusion of Roma children into school language clubs and active participation in the formal education classes through outreach to students, teachers, and the communities, and

b) support teachers to effectively implement the Akelius digital language programme in their teaching through classroom observations, helping teachers’ weekly and monthly reporting, the implementation of UNICEF feedback mechanism, support teachers to effectively use the technology and liaise between UNICEF and the two schools in case of any emerging issues.

The consultant will also provide support in improving Accountability to Affected Populations within this programme, ensuring that relevant data collection tools and feedback channels are visible and are being utilized, information is being provided to end-users and data on feedback processed, giving end-users an opportunity to provide feedback on the Akelius Digital Language course in the two primary schools.

The main responsibilities of the consultants include:

• Attend the 3-day training for Akelius language course in Tuzla in the week of 24 June.
• Provide support in including Roma children in school language clubs and encourage their active participation in the formal education classes. This includes informing and preparing the community about the start of the programme, drawing up an action plan for Roma mediation, and overseeing the implementation of the action plan and its adjustment as needed. This should be tailored to encompass the work with the school management and language teachers and communication with parents and children. It should assist tackling language, cultural, and identity-related issues which might influence the Akelius digital language learning programme implementation;
• Follow-up with the teachers to ensure timely and quality submissions of the weekly (for the first month) and monthly (for all other months) feedback forms;
• Support schools in ensuring the provided equipment is effectively used and managed;
• Conduct weekly classroom observations in schools and report on the findings;
• Ensure effective usage of UNICEF feedback mechanism and ensure information sharing on the programme in the schools;
• Liaise between schools and UNICEF in case of emerging issues of using the Akelius digital language application.

The duration of the consultancy is from 15 July 2024 to 30 July 2025, total 70 working days. This implies attendance to a 3-day training in Tuzla in June 2024 and the start of work in schools from September 2024 until July 2025.

The consultant will be home-based with frequent visits to two schools (at least on a weekly basis for classroom observations and more frequently if needed). Roma candidates are encouraged to apply.

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

• Minimum BA University degree in social sciences/humanities;
• Experience in working with Roma communities.
• Fluency in BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian) and English is mandatory. Romani language is considered as an asset;
• Solid ICT skills, including the use of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills;
• Previous work experience with Roma communities in Tuzla Canton is an asset.
• Previous experience with UNICEF 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:

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.