Iran's New Breed Of Charities On Poverty Frontline

Tehran, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :At an outreach centre in southern Tehran, teenagers are learning to be journalists, while upstairs their mothers are fine-tuning their sewing skills and rushing to fill an order for hospital uniforms.

The brand-new centre in the working-class neighbourhood of Shahr-e Rey caters to hundreds of struggling families and Afghan refugees.

It's a relatively new approach for Iran, where social welfare has often been left to informal groups based around the bazaar and mosque or fallen to large-scale government-controlled organisations.

Today, privately-run charities are emerging, with managers, targets and buzzwords such as "empowerment" and "skills-training", and funded by wealthy business people who have made fortunes in booming industries such as private healthcare.

This centre is run by the ILIA Foundation, created by social workers and members of the Nikan Hospital Group, who have partnered with UN refugee and health agencies to help around 1,000 families from deprived backgrounds.

For now these groups can only reach a small number of those in need but supporters say it is providing a model for future social work in Iran.

At one of the sewing machines is 27-year-old Somareh Ghazvani, a second-generation refugee -- one of around 3 million Afghans who have fled decades of conflict across the border.

"It was a surprise to find this place. The conditions are much better than other places I have worked, so I'm very happy," she said.

In the computer room, 16-year-old Masoumeh is working with InDesign and Photoshop as part of her summer classes in journalism.

"Our families have really counted on this centre. If we go to classes somewhere else, the fees are so high we can't afford it," she said.