TEHRAN – Barekat Charity Foundation, affiliated with the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, has launched 1,100 knowledge-based job plans across the country.

“We have launched 180,000 community-based projects in the country, which have directly and indirectly created job opportunities for 540,000 people, which have cost 200 trillion rials (nearly $740 million),” Mohammad Torkamaneh, the CEO of Barekat Foundation said.

The foundation is providing services to job applicants in 10,000 villages and 400 cities across the country, he further stated.

To date, the Barekat Foundation has partnered, invested, provided facilities, and supported 850 medium-sized industrial enterprises across the country, creating business opportunities for more than 211,000 people.

Some 120,000 community-based projects with a budget of 115 trillion rials (nearly $425 million) have been launched in deprived areas, which has created employment for 360,000 people.

Recently, the Foundation announced to open up 9,300 jobs for persons with disabilities.

The number of villages covered by the foundation's employment activities next year will reach 20,000 villages, equivalent to 50 percent of the country’s villages, and also will include small towns with a population of less than 30,000, 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.

There are more than 6,200 knowledge-based companies operating in the country, offering advanced products and services in various fields of technology to domestic and foreign markets, and some of them have entered international markets, Siavash Maleki, deputy head of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, has said.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

The country's knowledge-based ecosystem accounts for more than 3 percent of GDP. And the figure is projected to reach 5 percent, however, the main goal is to step toward a 10 percent share in GDP, Sourena Sattari, vice president for science and technology, has said.

FB/MG