TEHRAN – The Welfare Organization will inaugurate different projects, namely neighborhood-based social health, physical health, and cancer screening for women heads of household, community-based rehabilitation (CBR) centers, validation of elderly day-care centers, and a talent search system for welfare recipients, during Government week (August 24-30).

Neighborhood-based social health project focuses on revitalizing neighborhood institutions and benefiting from the capacity of qualified individuals, as well as centers under the supervision of Welfare Organization and communities to better serve the community, IRNA quoted Seyed Jafar Hosseini, the head of Welfare Organization, as saying.

The second project, physical health and cancer screening for women heads of household, will be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. The project will also be followed up on as a national program.

Concerning the fact that the country is entering a phase of population aging and a lack of professional forces, the Welfare Organization is planning to train consultants on aging or aging life care professionals. The first phase of the project will kick off during Government week, with 3,000 consultants to be trained in the private centers attributed to the organization.

The organization will also launch 200 CBR in less privileged and remote areas where access to welfare services is limited. Social workers will receive a 20-hour training to start their jobs as facilitators in these centers. They will be responsible for some 150 cases. Overseeing local communities, identifying individuals with disabilities, as well as resources and measures, are among their responsibilities.

The Welfare Organization will start to validate some 330 elderly day-care centers in cooperation with the national standard organization.

The talent search system for welfare recipients will be launched during the week, as well. It will help them to find jobs or start their own businesses. So far, 570,000 individuals have been collected, and it is estimated that during Government Week, the figure will rise to 800,000 people. For the first time, a comprehensive employment database for people with disabilities will be unveiled.

During the week, the Organization will also be equipped with 13 and 200 vehicles and ambulances, respectively.

National Welfare Week was held across the country from July 16 to 22. This year, the week was observed with the theme ‘together for well-being; participating today, empowering tomorrow’.

Hosseini said that “10,566 housing, employment, social, and rehabilitation projects with a total investment of 520 billion rials (some 580,000 dollars) will be inaugurated on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of National Welfare Week,” IRNA reported.

About 77 percent of the projects focus on employment, 21 percent on housing, and the remaining two percent on the social and rehabilitation sector, the official noted.

Moreover, 359 projects will be started, most of which will be implemented in Kerman, Lorestan, and Isfahan provinces.

Over the past year, 14,000 housing units were provided to beneficiaries and people with disabilities. 45,966 houses are under construction. And 1,942 housing units will be handed over to people with disabilities during the week, Hosseini highlighted.

The official went on to announce the launch of a job support fund. “Thanks to welfare services, nearly 200,000 beneficiaries and individuals with disabilities were employed, and the service sector accounts for 62 percent of the employment.

UNDP commends Welfare Organization’s services

Addressing a ceremony for the deployment of harm reduction mobile centers in Tehran in July, the resident representative ad interim for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Iran, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labé,  commended the Welfare Organization’s services, which have materialized commitment, inclusiveness, and hope over the past 45 years.

The relentless efforts of the organization are based on Article 29 that which guarantees the right to social security for all citizens, she noted. Article 29 specifies that everyone is entitled to social security benefits related to retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, lack of a guardian, accidents, and the need for healthcare and treatment, and that the government is responsible for providing these services and financial support, using national revenues and public contributions, as outlined by law.

The organization has brought dignity and care to those facing deprivation and social exclusion by providing services such as mobile clinics, harm reduction centers, and conducting programs for women, children, and those in need of special services, Medagangoda-Labé added.

MT/MG