TEHRAN (Iran News) – Barekat plans to generate 9,300 jobs for persons with disabilities. Barekat Charity Foundation, affiliated with the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, will open up 9,300 jobs for persons with disabilities, YJC reported on Saturday.
Mohammad Mokhber, head of the Foundation, said that so far, some 3,300 jobs have been provided to the physically challenged people, and some 6,000 are planned to be created over the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 21).
“We have launched 1100 job plans for the disabled and will launch another 2,000 plans with the cooperation of the Welfare Organization to invest in entrepreneurial ideas of the disabled,” he explained, adding, these plans will result in the creation of 9,300 jobs.
To achieve this number of job opportunities, a sum of 2.7 trillion rials (nearly $64.2 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) is invested in rural areas of the country, he noted.
He went on to say that livestock farming, technical services, shoemaking, clothing production, handicrafts, handmade carpet, and poultry farming are among these jobs.
This year, we will launch 70,000 community-based employment projects leading to the creation of 210,000 micro and domestic jobs, of which 20,000 are for vulnerable groups such as female-headed households, families of prisoners, the disabled, and families of children who have dropped out of school, he explained.
Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam was founded in 1989. In the Iranian calendar year, 1386 (March 2017-March 2018) Barekat Charity Foundation- the social arm of the organization- with the aim of promoting social justice was established.
Socio-economic empowerment of communities by encouraging entrepreneurship prioritizing breadwinner women, developing infrastructures such as water supply and power grids, building roads, constructing schools and increasing educational spaces, promoting health for all, granting non-repayable loans and insurance especially in less developed areas and regions most affected by 1980s war and natural disasters are of the priorities of the charity foundation.
Over 1.3m persons with disabilities live in Iran
Pirouz Hanachi, the mayor of Tehran, said in December 2019 that over 1.3 million people suffering from disabilities live in the country and the figure rises by 50,000 every year.
Majlis [the Iranian parliament] approved both general outlines and details of a bill on the rights of persons with disabilities in January 2018. Development of disability-friendly cities, free transportation, health insurance, free education, job creation, housing loans, and fewer working hours are some of the articles of the law.
Since the approval of the law, education for students with disabilities has been provided in Azad universities, subsidies for patients with spinal cord injury as well as disability care centers have been increased, in addition to residential units to families having members with disabilities.
Asghar Shirzadi, chairman of the board of the Iranian association of the disabled, said in December 2020 that it still seems that the related organizations are not very willing to implement the law.
