With UNICEF support, a high-level delegation from Iran visits Brazil to exchange experiences on making social protection programmes more child-sensitive

As emphasized by Mrs. Márcia Pádua, General Coordinator of Specialized Services for Families and Individuals of the Ministry of Citizenship, “the main objective of Brazil’s Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS) is to respond to poverty and other forms of vulnerabilities, including situations of people living on the streets, sexual and other forms of violence, disruption of family life, child labour, emergency situation and public calamity”.

During the visit, the IPC-IG elaborated on the achievements of the partnership with UNICEF Iran over the past two years including holding a series of technical online sessions on social protection issues and designing of the cash plus programme for vulnerable children who are out or at risk of school dropout, as well as the conducting an international webinar with Iran’s Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare on the Iranian social protection system. 

In Brasilia, the delegation visited a Social Assistance Reference Centre (CRAS), a shelter and welcoming centre for people living on the streets (“Centro POP”). The centre provides food, shelter, health care and counseling services to people and children living on the streets. The visit also included a centre for children and adolescents without effective caregivers, run in a “family environment” model, providing inclusive services to children.

In Boa Vista in the Brazilian state of Roraima, an arrival point for migrants and refugees, the delegation visited two shelters for non-indigenous populations, one for indigenous populations as well as the Centre for Interiorisation. In a meeting hosted by UNICEF Office in Brazil, a detailed presentation was provided on social protection services provided to ‘the populations on the move’ accommodated in shelters; mainly migrants and refugees from Venezuela. This includes UNICEF-supported educational services for refugee children. The programme set up in Brazil to manage populations on the move benefits from strong coordination mechanism between the Government, the Army as well as international and national actors in the field including NGOs. A strong task force plans, coordinates, and implements all interventions with direct support and supervision of the Army. The shelters for refugees and migrants from Venezuela are the biggest in Latin America, accommodating around 1,500 with a capacity of up to 2000 people. It is worth mentioning that Iran has been hosting for the last forty years, Afghan refugees, among whom many are children benefiting from inclusive health and education national services. The latest data of the Ministry of Interior shows that since August 2021 and following the internal crisis in Afghanistan, the number of Afghan refugees in Iran has considerably increased, currently standing at approximately 4.7 million (documented and undocumented). The study visit provided an insight to the Iranian delegation on the needed coordination mechanism to provide services to refugees and UNICEF’s comparative advantage in the field to lead sectors.

Dr. Hamed Forouzan, Advisor to Minister & Head of International Affairs of MCLSW, who was a member of the Iranian delegation in the study tour, said:” Following the visit to Brazil’s social service system, we are interested to replicate the single registry model of providing social services to children in Iran with UNICEF support. We are also ready to host a delegation from Brazil to get a more comprehensive and detailed report of their experience in implementing the single registry model. Meanwhile during the visit of the Brazilian mission to Iran, we can exchange with them our successful experiences such as the State Welfare Organization's success in providing services to children with disability and children without effective caregivers.”

In a related activity, MCLSW and UNICEF Iran, through financial support from Austria, have initiated the roll-out of UNICEF’s globally tested cash plus model in selected provinces with a view to future national scale-up. The cash plus model includes support to enhancing the national vocational and technical training system for smooth transition from learning to earning, enhancement of human capital and therefore contribution to economic growth. In a meeting with Austrian Ambassador in Brazil (Former Austrian Ambassador to Iran) and Head of MENA region in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Iranian delegation provided a brief progress report on implementation of the UNICEF-supported cash plus programme for vulnerable children and youth in Harsin and Khoramshahr cities, which involves providing conditional cash transfers, as well as technical and vocational training in line with the learning to earning agenda. The Austrian government, as the donor of this programme, reaffirmed its commitment to continue to provide full support including through promoting the value chain project approach (integration of social protection and job generation) and transferring the knowledge and know-how from Austria’s dual apprenticeship vocational training for adolescent and youth.

According to UNICEF Iran Deputy Representative, Gilles Chevalier, who accompanied the Iranian delegation to Brazil, “This study tour is an important step in the trilateral cooperation among UNICEF, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Brazil to strengthen child sensitive social protection systems. To adapt some of the successful approaches implemented in Brazil and accelerate the development of a Single Registry in Iran, members of this technical mission agreed on a follow-up action plan which will also benefit from IPC-IG unique expertise. Brazil and Iran have a lot to share and will continue exchanging success stories about social protection for children, including during a global conference on Social Protection that UNICEF and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will organize in 2023.”

The Iranian delegation to Brazil was comprised of Mr. Ali Mohammad Ghaderi, Head of the State Welfare Organization, Dr. Hamed Forouzan, Advisor to Minister & Head of International Affairs of MCLSW, Dr. Hadi Mahdavi, expert at International Department of MCLSW, and Mr. Ali Farnoush, expert at the International Department of MCLSW, accompanied by UNICEF Iran Deputy Representative, Mr. Gilles Chevalier, and UNICEF Iran Chief of Social Policy Section, Ms. Nazanin Akhgar.

As a follow up to the visit, a debriefing meeting will be held between UNICEF, MCLSW & SWO on prioritizing areas and outlining a framework for partnership with Brazilian government and the IPC-IG. The delegation will also debrief senior officials and policymakers within the MCLSW on the necessity to establish a single registry for Social Protection benefiting vulnerable children and youth with UNICEF support.

Based on a partnership, UNICEF and the MCLSW have committed to jointly tackling child multidimensional poverty and enhance child sensitive social protection services. UNICEF would share global best practices, build national capacities and provide technical and financial support to MCLSW in line with national priorities.