Adolescent Development and Participation

The issue faced

Iran boasts healthy demographic trends, with a large cohort of young people. Some 25 per cent of Iran’s approx. 85 million population are under the age of 15 years, with a further 22 per cent aged between 15 and 29.

However, deteriorating economic conditions, including high youth unemployment that stands at approx. 20 per cent, are leading to an increase in risky behaviours, drug abuse, unsafe sexual practices, and social harm among adolescents – with negative long-term effects for the individual and Iranian society at large.

The actions taken

Responding to this prevailing dynamic, UNICEF is advocating for a holistic approach to develop long-term prevention, mitigation, and response strategies to reduce the social harms currently threatening the lives of adolescents in Iran. In this pursuit, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Iran to boost the overall health and well-being of vulnerable adolescents and youth through the following actions:

Undertaking continued government advocacy for the establishment of national strategy and coordinating mechanisms for all youth and adolescent organizations.
Considering the voices of adolescents into national strategy development and implementation.
Educating at-risk adolescents through evidence-based social harm reduction activities, including drug prevention and rehabilitation programmes, workshops on transferable skills development, and the promotion of safe learning environments that spur personal growth.
Strengthening the capacity of health care providers to provide behavioural counselling.
Empowering rehabilitation centres to provide mental health and psychosocial support to children and adolescents with disabilities.
Providing psychosocial support in emergency situations through outreach services and youth volunteers programmes.

The partners engaged

UNICEF partners involved in implementation of the programme in this focus area include the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, as well as Drug Control Headquarters, provincial Anti Narcotic Coordination Councils, the State Welfare Organization, the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the Juvenile Correction and Rehabilitation Center, and various non-governmental organizations.

The impact sought

UNICEF will empower vulnerable adolescents to pursue healthy, productive, and functional lifestyles, preventing their further exposure to harms, and strengthening societal integration. This will spur longer term positive outcomes in these and related areas, while helping to avoid the grave consequences for the lives of the individual and Iranian society at large should the current cohort of adolescents not be provided with increased access in key areas (quality and inclusive health, skills building, social harm prevention, participation, and empowerment services). This positive change is being pursued through continued UNICEF implementation of its pioneering models aimed at fostering the empowerment and well-being of vulnerable adolescents and their transition into economically productive citizens of the country.

Monitoring and Accountability

In adherence to principles of accountability, UNICEF enriches its programme designs and adaptations through systematic assessment and monitoring of the child’s rights deprivations, operating environment, partnerships and progress towards planned results. The implementation of Harmonised Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT) ensures both financial and programmatic compliance through a combination of micro and macro assessments, spot checks, audits and programmatic visits. Leveraging sophisticated and integrated enterprise platforms and tools, UNICEF maintains a consistent monitoring of its programme implementation assessing quality and coverage, identifying risks and challenges, highlighting best practices and lessons learned, fostering stakeholder participation and engagement and conducting end user monitoring of supplies. Additionally, UNICEF remains committed to its costed evaluation plan which includes external evaluations of its projects, partnerships, and/or strategies primarily aiming to enhance relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of its programmes.