Activation Policies for the Poor in OIC Member States
79
businesses. The seven districts of the Tehran Municipality (with cooperation of community
consultants) have planned out the required space/location for the construction of these centres.
Experienced instructors provide long-term and short-term educational courses at the
entrepreneurship houses.
Several entrepreneurship schools have also been set up to target individuals who are more likely to
experience unemployment, such as young women. For example, the Khorshid Entrepreneurship
School has a special focus on women’s entrepreneurship. Established in autumn 2009, the School
concentrates on providing education for women in the area of new methods and procedures of
starting up new businesses. Over 270 students have participated in the online and free courses
offered by the Khorshid Entrepreneurship School. Anecdotally, many women are said to have started
their own businesses.
There are various sources of funding available for would be entrepreneurs. Interest-free funds were
formed to grant loans to the needy, in accordance with Islamic banking principles. These include the
State Cooperative Fund, the Employment Fund at Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, and the Rural
Micro Credits Fund at the Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture – all of which were formed to help
entrepreneurship flourish. Official statistics indicate that there are about 6,000 private interest-free
funds active in Iran. The main objective of the interest-free funds is to provide micro credits, without
interest charges, and based only on a negligible commission fee. These funds are active at a national,
provincial, urban and community levels.
3.5.3 The way forward
The research carried out in Iran identified several areas of best practice and potential solutions to
challenges faced by activation projects and policies. The reasoning for each recommendation and the
proposed approach is tailored to Iran’s circumstances. These recommendations are designed to
supplement the previous recommendations made in the Malaysia case study, another upper-middle
income Member State. Although the recommendations are tailored to Iran, they are worth
consideration by the other Member States in this income grouping and, in certain cases, support the
recommendations made with regards to the other income groupings.
National policy objectives & delivery
More priority could be given to developing education, skills training and job placement in rural
areas.
The example of Marvdasht showed that activation measures may require more development in some
rural areas. Individuals in particular face barriers accessing skills training and poverty alleviation
schemes. To address this, local institutions may need support to increase their capacity to deliver
activation measures. Furthermore, improved access to finance and instruments for economic
activities could also support the success of activation in rural areas.
Individual programme design & performance
Programme monitoring and evaluation could improve programmes’ design and results.
Programmes could be monitored to ensure undesirable impacts are identified early and addressed.
This could increase the effectiveness of programmes and would support the dissemination of best
practice if lessons learned are shared amongst practitioners. Prior to implementing programmes, a
work group made up of delivery specialists could also be used to identify the risks of undesirable
impacts materialising so that these can be mitigated.
Local government in rural areas could increase interaction with the local population.
As previously mentioned, it is particularly in rural areas that activation measures require
development. If local residents were more involved in rural initiatives, they could influence and
shape the decision-making processes to ensure measures are better suited to their needs.