Chairman of the Board of Directors of Barakat Foundation DR. Mahmoud Askariazad made the above statement and said, “realization of this giant move in the field of generation of employment by the Foundation is completely practical and accessible.”

According to him, employment is the main pillar of development in the country and concentration of the Foundation on the concept of generation of employment should be considered as an important effect.

He described four-article plans of the Foundation in the field of generation of employment as the result of years of fulfilling feasibility studies by a group of competent and the most experienced experts and emphasized, “once objectives of this plan are realized, unemployment problem in the country can be uprooted to a great extent.”

Dr. Askariazad believes that governments should not ignore objectives of a generation of employment in the country. governments should create business environment only inthe injection of liquidity and also granting loans.

Q: As one of the subsidiaries of the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), Barakat Foundation has concentrated all its activities on the subject of employment generation. What is the main reason behind the adoption of such policy and strategy?

A: Presently, there are three main and fundamental problems in the employment sector of the country. In the first place, the number of employees in the country is very low as compared with other countries, the issue of which causes the country to have less productive manpower. If it is supposed to equalize our manpower with the countries in the Asia-Pacific region, we have to add 13 million manpower to the current manpower of the country. Under such circumstances, the number of 24 million employees in the country will hit 37 million.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate in the country stands at 12 percent, the rate of which shows that the country has three million unemployed ones.

Of course, the official unemployment rate in the country differs from the unofficial statistics.

Yes, the unemployment rate in Iran is very high as compared to the global level on average. The unemployment rate in the world stands at four percent (4%). If we want to quote the same official rate of 12%, this figure in our country is much higher than the global average level.

The second problem is related to the low productivity of manpower in the country. according to the report of the International Labor Organization (ILO), productivity in Iran stands at one-fifth as compared to the countries of Group 1 that have high productivity rate. That is to say that the manpower of countries with high productivity has is five times more productive than our country.

The third problem is related to the forced migration to access employment opportunities. These migrations usually occur hierarchically from villages to small towns and also from small cities to the large cities as well as from large cities to metropolises which results in numerous failures such as marginalization, social problems, insecurity and dozens of other problems.

Given these analyses and considering the guidelines and recommendations of Leader of the Islamic Revolution on warding off deprivation and empowerment of socioeconomic status of people in the deprived and underprivileged areas of the country, Barakat Foundation has made its utmost effort to solve the aforementioned three problems.

Despite all its effective measures taken in the field of generation of employment, the Barakat Foundation is known more with its development and infrastructural activities.

Q: Even, members of the Parliament, governor generals, governors in their meetings with the officials of the EIKO are seeking their demands in the developmental and infrastructural field. Could you explain more about this?

A: In response to your question, provincial officials want to carry out development and infrastructural projects during their tenure. For this reason, they request the Foundation to cooperate with them in launching these projects.

It should be noted that the job-creation trend is not taken into serious consideration in our country.

Q: Would you mind explaining the projects clarified and predicted in the Foundation in the field of generation of employment briefly.?

A: The model used by the Foundation for the generation of employment in villages and rural areas differs from the ordinary models that are carried out in urban areas. When we want to generate employment in villages and rural areas, we face people that they do not know any business activity. Therefore, villagers and people living in rural areas do not have enough capital for launching a business. As mentioned above, the Foundation has defined various model such as SAHAB, AFTAB, etc. for supporting these people living in rural areas.

Q: What programs and measures have been taken by the Barakat Foundation for the generation of more employment in the country?

A: It is predicted that 1,200 jobs will be created in rural areas of the country in the next 10 years. under such circumstances, four million people in the country, who are suffering from livelihood problem, will become out of depravity.

Giant steps will be taken by the Foundation in this regard in the coming years.