TEHRAN – Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has opened up over 327,000 jobs so far by supporting small and home-based businesses in the country's rural areas, during the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2016-2021).

With the implementation of business plans, 87,695 rural households have become empowered and have left the support of the Relief Foundation, Ali Akbar Khademi, deputy head of the Foundation said.

In the same period, 470,000 villagers benefited from vocational training, skills, and job stabilization, he noted.

He went on to say that the Foundation has supported livestock farming projects, and currently, the number of livestock reaches up to 5.5 million.

Last year, the clients produced over 120,000 square meters of carpet, a large part of which is produced in villages and supplied to domestic and foreign markets.

The Foundation will create 748,000 jobs by March 2022, marking the end of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan.

“Some five million employed people are currently supported by the Foundation,” IRIB quoted Morteza Bakhtiari, the head of the Foundation, as saying on October 5.

Breadwinner women account for 60 percent of the people supported by the Foundation, he noted.

During the year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018), which was the start of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan, the Foundation created 154,000 jobs, although it was obliged to create 70,000 jobs annually, Bakhtiari explained.

Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation works to provide employment in deprived areas and empowers financially struggling families, other services such as building or buying housing, cultural services, medical services, and other facilities are provided, for example, in the field of treatment, more than 80,000 patients of incurable diseases are currently under the Foundation’s coverage.

FB/MG