TEHRAN – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters have cooperated to develop an emergency protocol for staff working with at-risk adolescents to enhance their capacity for addressing youth needs during emergencies.

They also held two workshops in August and September, the UNICEF website reported.

Thanks to these programs, social workers, experts, counselors, volunteers, and peers will be able to provide much more effective services in case of any emergencies to vulnerable youth, adolescents and their families.

The aim of these workshops was to expand the technical needs of those working with vulnerable and at-risk girls to provide more efficient services to them in case of emergencies.

During the first workshop, in addition to capacity building on crisis management and specialized interventions, a protocol for UNICEF-supported Adolescent Wellbeing Centers in Mashhad and Kermanshah was developed to strengthen their emergency response capacity, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on October 15.

In the second workshop, the participants reviewed the emergency protocol and action plan for emergencies and finalized it, the report said.

Being a disaster-prone country, Iran is highly susceptible to earthquakes, and floods, the natural hazards that have had a strong effect on people including adolescents with unique needs and challenges.

These incidents interfere with their lives leaving a life-long influence on their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being.

So prioritizing adolescents' needs during emergency response and recovery efforts is essential.

Providing safe spaces, psychosocial support, access to education, wellbeing services, and opportunities for recreation and skill-building are essential for their well-being and resilience, the report added.

Recent programs supported by UNICEF

UNICEF held a skill-building workshop from September 9 to 11 in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Enhanced Mental Health, and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) aimed to facilitate young people's employability.

This workshop was funded by the Netherlands and aimed to expand the Adolescent and Youth Empowerment and Wellbeing Program.

It empowers the youth and facilitates their access to decent job opportunities

The main goal of the workshop was to increase the capacity of NGOs to effectively implement the Adolescent and Youth Empowerment and Employability Program.

This initiative builds upon the success of pilot programs in Kermanshah and Isfahan in 2021. 

In addition to granting adolescents and youth access to technical and vocational training and innovative skills-building, it connects these young individuals with entrepreneurship programs in the private sector, facilitating a seamless transition from learning to earning, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on September 21.

In September, UNICEF installed some fabricated classrooms and distributed hygiene and baby kits among people in the earthquake-affected city of Khoy in collaboration with the ministries of education and health.

Also, according to a report released by the UNICEF website on September 7, four schools in Khoy, affected by the earthquake, were equipped with new educational spaces. Three of these schools are located in inaccessible villages and the fourth one is in Khoy.

UNICEF, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, facilitated the process of purchasing, delivering, installing, and equipping these prefabricated classrooms to ensure the access of earthquake-affected children to quality education.

In the next step, UNICEF plans to rehabilitate 12 schools in earthquake-affected, hard-to-reach villages in Khoy County to enhance the learning environment and opportunities for children, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on September 5.

Meanwhile, families received health packages in 15 earthquake-affected villages of Khoy. UNICEF prepared and presented these packages in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education to ensure children and families access the vital support to be healthy.

In August, UNICEF held a training workshop named "Wash Bottleneck Analysis Tool" (WASHBAT) in Tehran aimed to enhance Iranian children's access to safe and sanitary water throughout the country.

The three-day event was held from August 14 -16 in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy.

WASHBAT, a tool developed by UNICEF and global partner organizations, serves as a valuable approach for assessing and analyzing the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) situation in a country. It helps in identifying challenges, suggesting solutions, prioritizing interventions, and developing an action plan to address these challenges, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on August 24.

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Photo: UNICEF held a workshop in January for girls who are at risk of social harm.