UNICEF is keen to cooperate with the youth wing of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said UNICEF representative to Iran Ezio Gianni Murzi, during his meeting with head of the IRCS youth wing Vahid Ghobadi Dana earlier this week.
UNICEF has a five-year country program in Iran and in line with the objectives, various projects will be implemented in collaboration with their counterparts in the government with focus on mutual interests, he said, IRNA reports.
Noting that programs of the office of the educational deputy at IRCS are based on the principles and strategy of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRCS), Murzi said cooperation with the IRCS “is of great significance since closer and efficacious connection with the youth can be established.”
The UNICEF programs in 2015 are in four major areas and include creating suitable environment for increasing youth awareness, promoting road safety, preventing illicit drugs use and HIV among high-risk groups, and increasing leadership capacities among the youth as well as organizational capacities in support of vulnerable children.
“UNICEF has been targeting innovation, particularly among the youth as they are more susceptible to social harm,” Murzi said.
Leadership Qualities
Ghobadi Dana said “the youth wing addresses leadership traits principally in line with the IFRCRCS 2020 strategies in areas regarding youth, environment and health and the Youth Empowered Solutions (YES).”
YES is a nonprofit organization that empowers youth, in partnership with adults, to create community change. It equips high school youth and their adult allies with the tools necessary to take a stand in their communities and create change that will positively impact adolescent health. Its strategies seek to reduce childhood obesity, ensure access to health care, eliminate teen tobacco use, decrease underage drinking, strengthen youth-adult partnerships, and become public health leaders of tomorrow.
The model taken up by YES is a three-pronged approach that effectively engages young people in work that challenges them to develop skills, gain critical awareness, and participate in opportunities that are necessary for creating community change, Ghobadi Dana noted.
Recalling the awareness-raising campaign by UNICEF, the Ministry of Health, State Welfare Organization, police forces, and the Tehran Municipality to reduce deaths and injuries caused by road accidents, he said there would be further mutual collaboration in this regard.
Preventive programs to check HIV and other high-risk diseases in cooperation with the Ministry of Health are also on the agenda.
