Yasser Ramezannezhad, an executive officer of Barakat Foundation in Gilan province emphasizes that refraining from single-product activities in a province like Gilan is necessary, reiterating, “For example, focusing merely on animal husbandry and agricultural activities alone cannot resolve the unemployment problem in the province.”
He says that the traditional viewpoint and old-style beliefs of the people in deprived parts of the province eventually leads to day-to-day management of their living expenses and this does not contribute to achieving the sustainable development objective in the province.
“That is the reason why the executive officers and facilitators of Barakat Foundation in Gilan have focused on job creation diversity and they have thus far implemented good initiatives relying on that idea,” added Ramezannezhad.
He said that thus, Barakat Foundation has managed to offer not only more job opportunities, but also to set up more new workshops in field of processing and complementary industries in the agricultural and animal husbandry fields.
Focusing on his own activities as a Barakat Foundation executive officer during the past few years, Ramezannezhad said, “Implementing job creation in Gilan province is being pursued in 18 cities and townships. Last year 1,500 plans were fully implemented and this year the implementation of 1,800 job creation plans is approved.”
He said that keeping in mind the region’s particular conditions and the people’s traditional approach, most of the plans thus far have been in the agricultural and animal husbandry fields, although both last year and this year the foundation’s focus has been on diversifying the job opportunities.
“Also, by the side of the food processing, complementary and packing industries, such fields as the fisheries, small decorative and apartment flowers and plants production workshops, tourism, and… plans, too, been focused on,” he added.
Referring to the environment preservation of Gilan province and its natural attractions, he said, “This province has great tourism attraction potentials compared with the other provinces of the country. Job creation in this field, appropriate with the region’s conditions and the youth’s tendencies is easier, but in the past it had mainly been ignored.”
He said that the Barakat Foundation has all the same focused on job creation in tourism field, adding, “By making small investments we can reconstruct the old homes and turn them into small inns to host tourists and provide income for the people.”
The executive officer of Barakat Foundation added that by focusing on diversifying the job creation plans as economic boosters and sustainable development providers, relaying on articles 16 and 18 of the foundation, this year more than 4,000 plans are under implementation in the province and 25% of them have already been finalized.
“The important point in Barakat Foundation’s activities is paying attention to the local and regional conditions and moving towards the development of indigenous societies. This year that the government deleted the foreign currency subsidies and the raw material prices have increased noticeably, there is a dire need to offering more financial facilities.”
He said that of course Barakat Foundation in some job creation plans and trades increased the ceiling of its facilities up to 5,000 million rials to make up for those increased expenses.
Focusing on the positive moves of Barakat Foundation, Ramezannezhad said, “We have while focusing on demand and market-axis factor in our job creation plans, and training in the field of preferred methods, paid attention to the interests of the youth.”
He said that in that respect the interests, talents and demands for facilities, too, have been in the focus of attention.
“In the next phase, if we will reach the conclusion that there is not market for a certain product, we use the preferred methods and training focused on market-axis method,” said the Barakat Foundation executive offices.
The young an enthusiastic officer concluded at the end that the Barakat Foundation’s moves have managed to uproot poverty, and since we focus on job creation and boost production, based on the national 6th Development Plan, the state foundations, too have promised to provide 100,000 new job creation facilities this year, and the Barakat Foundation with its 1,000 facilitators and executive officers has been successful in taking maximum advantage of that opportunity.
