Programme Efficient Human Resources 2021- 2027
Programme description
Croatia's ESF+ Efficient Human Resources Programme will focus on creating employment opportunities and upskilling of people, modernising education and promoting lifelong learning and improving the matching of education and training systems to meet employers' needs. The programme will also promote social inclusion, as well as invest in healthcare and long-term care.
Projects funded under the programme will modernise and improve education programmes, from early childhood to higher education. Investments will also focus on adult learning and training, including lifelong learning of teachers and staff of educational institutions.
The ESF+ will encourage the expansion of social services in consideration of local needs, including the requirements for providing accessible, affordable and quality long-term care for persons with limited autonomy and with disabilities. The most deprived and those at risk of social exclusion, especially children, will benefit from dedicated measures.
ESF+ support in these policy areas will go hand in hand with ongoing reforms and EU investments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Boosting Employment Focusing on Young People
The programme will implement active labour market policies including traineeships, support for employment and self-employment. The focus will be on helping vulnerable groups of people and women to integrate into the labour market.
Youth employment support is a key priority of the programme, which implements the Reinforced Youth Guarantee. Young people will be integrated into the labour market through new opportunities, such as transnational work mobility for disadvantaged young people, with a focus on supporting those who are not in employment, education or training through measures including the new ALMA (Aim, Learn, Master, Achieve) initiative.
The programme will invest in re-integrating the unemployed, as well as supporting the continued career development of employed people with specific measures designed for both groups. Individual learning accounts will be introduced to encourage lifelong learning for better jobs.
More and Better Education and Lifelong Learning
ESF+ will support education reform by adapting curricula to match labour market needs and skills mapping, as well as forecasting and applying the Croatian qualification framework. Activities will also support whole-day schooling in primary schools, which can help improve children’s wellbeing, enhance their social skills and improve learning results.
The offer of vocational Education and Training (VET) will be expanded and enhanced by developing new methodologies, curricula and qualifications aligned with the Croatian Qualifications Framework. Activities will also promote further empowerment of regional VET competence centres and strengthening of work-based learning systems for vocational professions. Vulnerable pupils will be a particular focus of support through measures such as individual teaching assistants and professional communication mediators for children with disabilities. International exchanges will also be enhanced for students in tertiary education, with the development of high-quality digital education content and support for the training of young researchers.
ESF+ puts a particular emphasis on up- and reskilling the Croatian workforce to meet labour shortages and to adapt to new challenges of the green and digital transitions. Boosting adult learning is particularly important due to its low up-take in Croatia so far. The ESF+ programme will invest in building blocks for developing individual learning accounts.
Helping vulnerable people
Projects supported by the programme will fund community-based services to prevent social exclusion of vulnerable groups – particularly for children at risk of poverty, persons with disabilities and older persons in need of long-term care. Investments in health will focus on training medical workers.
Dedicated activities under the programme will provide basic material assistance, such as food and hot meals to at-risk individuals and families, including homeless and other vulnerable people.
Promoting social innovation
The programme will encourage innovative solutions to key social policy challenges. Community centres will be established to empower the local population and advance the relationship between Roma and majority populations in the wider community. Development of innovative, non-institutional social services will be financed to support the continuation of the deinstitutionalisation, especially of long-term care for persons with disabilities and for older people.
Expected impact
- Over 110 000 unemployed and over 25 000 employed people, out of which almost 70 000 young people will benefit from active support to find jobs and/or advance in their careers;
- 2000 educational institutions will be supported to implement quality education and training programmes;
- Over 130 000 vulnerable people, including from disadvantaged groups will benefit from social services and measures for social inclusion;
- Over 100 000 people, including children, will be provided food, school meals and basic material assistance.
Financial information
Breakdown of finances by priority axis
| Priority Axis | EU Investment | National Public Contribution | Total Public Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESF+ | 1.933.570.912,00 | 334.395.253,00 | 2.267.966.165,00 |
| Total | 1.933.570.912,00 | 334.395.253,00 | 2.267.966.165,00 |
Priorities and Specific Objectives
Social Europe
Access to employment and activation measures for all
Intergration of marginalised communities such as Roma
Equal access to quality social and healthcare services
Addressing material deprivation
Modernising labour market institutions
Improving education and training systems
Quality and inclusive education and training systems
Lifelong learning and career transitions
Active inclusion and employability
Integration of third country nationals