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.

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COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam which was unveiled on December 29, 2020, started to be mass-produced on March 29.

At least two European countries and three countries in the region are now seeking to negotiate on purchasing vaccine, but we will export once the domestic needs are met, he noted, adding, the production capacity of COVID-19 vaccine in the world is about 2 billion doses per year, while the need for a vaccine is about 14-16 billion doses.

“We have achieved great success in developing vaccine; as clinical trials were conducted successfully, and the third phase of the human trial will start by the next two or three weeks, but what is more important is mass production of vaccines,” Mokhber noted.

Mokhber went on to say that the production line of three million doses of vaccine per month has been fully completed and we have gained valuable achievements in the field of research and development.

In the beginning, our scientists could get 100 doses of vaccine per liter of the virus, which increased up to 1,000 doses by now, he highlighted.

“In the first phase, we can produce 3 million doses of vaccine per month and we are determined to submit the first shipment of BAREKAT vaccine with a capacity of one million doses to the Ministry of Health and the Iranian people in May,” he said.

The second line of vaccine production with a capacity of 12 to 15 million doses will also be operational in two months, its construction stages have been completed and it is planned to be launched in mid-July, he added.

At the end of June, the vaccine production capacity will reach 18-20 million doses per month, which can definitely increase in case of any changes in condition, he also stated.

The second Iranian coronavirus vaccine, Razi Cov Pars, which started the clinical trial on February 27, will be mass-produced in early August.

Fakhra vaccine, the third homegrown vaccine, was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

Meanwhile the spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Kianoush Jahanpour said that five countries including two European countries ask for Iranian Corona vaccine so far.

Jahanpour wrote in a tweet that uranium enrichment will begin up to 60% and so far five countries including two European ones asked for the Iranian vaccine. Along with the increase in production efficiency, it would be close to achieving producing 20 million doses of vaccine per month.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki has promised that by the end of this spring, the domestically produced vaccine will be accomplished and placed on the service table and injected into the Iranian citizens.

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Last year, the Foundation invested in 742 small, medium, and large production units, which will increase to about 2,000 units in the current year, which has been named by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as “Production: Support and the Elimination of Obstacles”, ISNA reported on Saturday.

A total of 6 trillion rials (nearly $142 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) is allocated for the support of these production firms, which will employ more than 10,000 people directly and 40,000 indirectly, according to the report.

Last year, with an investment of 2.5 trillion rials (about $59 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials), 130 manufacturing businesses entered the production cycle and over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs were created.

Rural development

In Iran, where villages account for generating 20-23 percent of the value-added in the country, the development of rural areas has been always a top agenda of the governments’ activities.

The sustainable economic, social, and cultural development of the villages is one of the major priorities of the current government, and many projects implemented and underway in this regard have led to outstanding development in the rural regions.

Many other efforts have been made over the past couple of years by the government to support villagers and slow down the trend of migration from rural areas to cities while decreasing rural community dependency on one main economic sector (agriculture, forestry, energy, or mining), including rural tourism, agritourism, religious tourism, and ecotourism.

Currently, 26 percent of the country’s population lives in villages, around 39,000 villages have more than 20 households and 23,000 villages have less than 20 households.

Mohammad Omid, the vice president for rural development, said in November 2020 that for the first time in the country, the migration of people from rural areas to cities has reached zero.

A total of 220 trillion rials (nearly $5.6 billion) has been approved for the development of villages in the current year (March 2020-March 2021), Omid said.

Some 140 trillion rials (about $3.3 billion) have so far been spent, he noted, adding, the unemployment rate in rural areas has reached 7.4 percent, which has decreased by over one percent compared to last year.

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