Emergency Preparedness and Response

The issue faced

Iran hosts the highest number of refugees globally, with a significant influx since 2021. Additionally, the country is highly prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes and floods, which further strain the coping capacities of public systems and communities. Sanctions and ongoing economic challenges continue to weaken essential public systems, affecting access to basic services.

Vulnerable and marginalized groups, especially children, face the greatest risk of having their needs unmet, as the burden of these challenges falls disproportionately on them. Preparedness and having an adequate response capacity are core components of UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.

UNICEF plays a critical role in addressing these challenges. Through equitable, sustainable, gender-responsive, and accountable approaches, UNICEF aims to strengthen resilience within communities, ensure that no one is left behind—especially the most vulnerable groups, including children—and foster inclusive and sustainable systems that can better address future emergencies.

The actions taken

UNICEF has been providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to communities affected by natural disasters and refugee influx. This includes the provision of health, nutrition, education, child protection, and WASH services, as well as targeted cash assistance to address immediate needs and strengthen community resilience. The response focuses on equitable access to essential services, prioritizing the most vulnerable children and families.

UNICEF plays a leading role in providing humanitarian assistance to communities affected by disasters. Key interventions include:

Delivering a multisectoral response to disasters, including the Khoy earthquake (2023) and the floods in Sistan and Baluchistan (2024).
Supporting and influencing inclusive policies through humanitarian action.

Furthermore, UNICEF upscales its emergency preparedness capabilities by regularly analyzing the country risk profile, maintaining updated emergency scenarios and response plans, securing contingency funds and prepositioned relief items, as well as establishing contingency agreements with local humanitarian partners.

UNICEF’s broad and dynamic partnership model spans technical government agencies, international NGOs, local NGOs, and private sector actors, enabling a more coordinated and effective response to emergencies. By leveraging this comprehensive approach, UNICEF ensures rapid, efficient, and child-centered responses to emergencies, strengthening local capacities and safeguarding children's rights.

The partners engaged

UNICEF's emergency and humanitarian work in Iran relies on a dynamic network of partners to ensure an inclusive, efficient, and well-coordinated response. Key national partners, including the Ministry of Interior, National Disaster Management Organization, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and the Ministry of Education, enable access to critical public systems and support the integration of UNICEF’s interventions into national frameworks.

UNICEF works closely with international and local NGOs, as well as civil society organizations, to deliver community-driven and culturally appropriate responses, while partnerships with private sector service providers facilitate timely, transparent cash transfers to vulnerable households.

As a key player in the broader humanitarian coordination system, UNICEF collaborates with UN agencies, and donors to mobilize technical expertise, funding, and operational support. This broad partnership approach ensures UNICEF can remain agile, responsive, and focused on achieving sustained impact, leaving no child behind during emergencies and recovery.

The impact sought

UNICEF’s emergency and humanitarian work is driven by the fundamental commitment of protecting and upholding children’s rights in times of crisis. UNICEF’s humanitarian work seeks to safeguard children's rights before, during, and after emergencies, ensuring that recovery is child-centered and sustainable.

Throughout its humanitarian and emergency preparedness and response operations, UNICEF seeks to guarantee that children—especially those in refugee and marginalized communities—have uninterrupted access to health care, education, psychosocial support, and essential life-saving supplies. UNICEF’s efforts also strive to ensure that children affected by emergencies are safeguarded from violence and deprivation of rights, with focused support for unaccompanied or separated children.

UNICEF emergency programmes are designed to be inclusive, sustainable, and child-friendly, with an emphasis on localized capacity and preparedness. Through these measures, UNICEF aims to create an environment where no child is left behind—whether in the immediate aftermath of a crisis or in the long journey toward recovery and stability.

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.