TEHRAN - The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation is committed to creating some 500,000 jobs for financially-struggling families in the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21.

The Foundation succeeded in creating some 420,000 job opportunities in the past year, Morteza Firouzabadi, an official with the Foundation, said.

About 220 trillion rials (some $440 million) were allocated for job creation projects, which is equivalent to 89 percent of the approved budget, he noted.

Last year, some 113,000 people received skill training services, a 3-fold increase compared to the preceding year, Firouzabadi said, adding that for the first time, a special skill training program for teenagers and students has been launched and eight thousand people benefited from these training services.

“Due to the fact that transportation services are part of high-paying and stable jobs for job seekers, a thousand tractors were handed over to job seekers.”

“Last year, we promised to provide 40,000 solar panels for job seekers, of which 20,000 were provided. This year, we plan to provide them with another 40,000 solar panels in addition to providing the 20,000 solar panels remaining from last year.”

In March, a total of 23,000 apartments were delivered to low-income families across the country.

The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has constructed the apartments. President Ebrahim Raisi handed over three apartments, IRNA reported.

A total of 25 trillion rials (nearly $50 million) has been proposed to provide housing for the underprivileged in the budget bill for the current [Iranian calendar] year (started March 21).

The Foundation also plans to build 360,000 houses over the next four years.

The project will start next year and 90,000 houses will be built for the deprived annually, 60,000 of which will be built in cities and 30,000 in villages.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed with the Mostazafan Foundation and Housing Foundation regarding the construction of 10,000 housing units in villages and cities with less than 25,000 populations.

Another memorandum of understanding has been inked with the Basij and Housing Foundation to build 40,000 houses.

In October 2022, Morteza Bakhtiari, head of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, said more than 900,000 job opportunities were created for financially-struggling individuals during the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021).

“During the sixth development plan, we were required to create 350,000 jobs, however, we managed to create more than 900,000 job opportunities for the target community, and a significant number of clients became self-sufficient and no longer receive support,” Bakhtiari added.

From March to October 2022, more than 180,000 job opportunities have been launched and 134,000 employment plans are in the process of receiving loans, he stated.

He went on to note that 6,000 elites, 52,000 school students, and about 730,000 college students are under the support of the foundation, which can guarantee the future of the country in various fields of science and technology.

Moreover, about 50,000 cases of skill training have been provided to clients, he added.

The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has launched 3,285 projects to support job seekers over the first five months of the past Iranian calendar year.

More than 3,000 jobs have been created for women heads of household across the country, Ensieh Khazali, the vice president for women and family affairs, has said.

Within the framework of a sustainable family-oriented business program, jobs have been created for more than three thousand female breadwinners in 21 provinces, she added.

Referring to the key role of women and mothers in promoting the culture of work and laying the foundation for production directly and indirectly, the vice president said: “Population growth is one of the important factors of sustainable production.

Therefore, we should pay attention to the labor force, both quantitatively and qualitatively, as the most important component of power and economic growth.”

The National Headquarters for Women and Family Affairs has approved six plans to support families and empower women and improve their status in society.

The formation of a loan guarantee fund for women heads of households was one of the plans of the National Headquarters for Women and Family Affairs.

According to official statistics, there are 3.5 million female heads of households, but according to unofficial statistics, the figure reaches more than 6 million.

The government has prioritized such families for targeting socio-economic support.

MG