In this presentation, We highlighted the process and impact of our partcipatory community-based development approach for establishing community-based organizations and creating collective livihood initiatives in Marginalized areas of Iran by sharing the story of Khane-Hoda in Sistan and Baluchistan. We illustrated how our contextual approach can be applied elsewhere to achieve sustainable development outcomes.
we had an engaging and enjoyable discussion with attendees coming from Asian, European, and American countries who asked questions about conflict resolution, maintaining volunteers and the details of the processes through which these projects have impacted so many lives in the disadvantaged communities across Iran.

Panel moderators: Atyeh Ashtari, Saba Madani Ghahfarrokhi,Firouzeh Saber, Michael Azimi, Mehri Javadzadeh
Coordinators: Kimia Kahalzadeh, Sara Sokhanvar

CSW65 priority theme was “Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. EDF has a Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and every year tries to take part in CSW’s events. EDF parallel event title for CSW65 was Empowering Connecting and Relying on Local Facilitators; an EDF COVID-19 Strategy. This event was held virtually on the Zoom platform at 2:00 AM (Iranian time) on 17th March 2021.

You may watch the full parallel event here.

Marzieh Ahrar project officer (international relations) and Shima Vezvaei Media and Communication Manager presented this event on behalf of EDF. In this event, EDF and its activities were introduced first, then local community development project of EDF presented and for the following topic, EDF’s response to Covid-19 as a nonprofit organization was briefly mentioned and one of the projects defined under this field called Facilitators of sustainable livelihood was bolded as an innovation of EDF in empowering and connecting local facilitators in local communities through the online training course.

Through the efforts of local NGO Bahar -e- Khorramshahr, EDF, and trained local facilitators, a group of women in Sarhanieh, peripheral settlements of Khoramshahr city, managed to initiate a collective business. These hardworking women are now running a local mask production workshop which is going to respond to the need of the city during the pandemic. Previously they had received several trainings.

Following 2018, and 2019, EDF provided members of the Negin Group (children and young adults of Hoda House in Zahedan) with an intensive summer internship program. The program varies from tailoring to car mechanic workshops.

Training Local Facilitators: a path to institutionalization

One of EDF’s goals is to familiarize local facilitators with business approaches, facilitation concepts, and skills. COVID-19 related travel restrictions resulted in an extensive decline of workshops and training programs conducted by central NGOs in peripheral regions. EDF has taken an opportunity to design and online collective learning platform specifically aimed at community facilitation. The project is currently under the initiation phase.

Youth Empowerment: it’s all about work-life harmony!

Specialized webinar series “operational planning for the resilience of small and micro businesses in the Covid-19 pandemic crisis” was held for a group of small business owners with priorities given to women from underserved areas of Iran. At the end of these webinars, participants are expected to write an executive summary of their business plan.​

Training Local Facilitators – a new project

Training Local Facilitators is a newly defined project that targets South Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchistan, and South Khouzestan provinces of Iran. This online program is a collective educational platform designed under the umbrella of Local Community Development project at EDF.  The project is now under the research & development stage.

Youth Empowerment: virtual training and more webinars

Following the training webinar series called Continuation of Micro Businesses in Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis, which have been organized and taught from the previous month, EDF held five webinars on the subject including Business Terms and conditions, Functional Accounting, Digital Marketing, Human Resource Management, and Organizational Management and Excellence. Following this path, five specialized webinars for small business owners are planned for the month ahead as well.

EDF’s Response to Coronavirus: an English report

After the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result of the national lockdown and travel restrictions, EDF adopted 2 strategies in general: firstly, relying on local NGOs that EDF work within Zahedan city, Sistan and Balouchestan province, we distributed hygienic and essential items among community members and raised awareness about the virus and health protocols among women, and the youth in different neighborhoods and informal settlements. Secondly, we also organized online training programs for small business owners. All of these activities were briefly gathered in an English report and published on our website. This report was also submitted for the United Nation civil society website’s call for stories about civil society organizations’ response to COVID-19. Read more about this report: https://foundationed.ir/en/archives/151

EDF is a nonprofit organization active at the national level connecting and engaging with a variety of community-based organizations and local NGOs in underserved and peripheral regions. Additionally, EDF assists individual small business owners, with priorities given to women, providing them with educational, and consultation support. As a result of the national lockdown and then travel restrictions, EDF adopted 2 strategies: firstly, relying on local NGOs that EDF works within Zahedan city, Sistan and Balouchestan province, we distributed hygienic and essential items among community members and raised awareness about the virus and health protocols among women, and the youth in different neighborhoods and informal settlements. Secondly, we also organized online training programs for small business owners.

In line with specialized activities of EDF, we have defined various online and offline activities for our target groups such as training programs, a series of Instagram live discussions, webinars, organizing virtual exhibitions, and conducting research and interview-based field studies.

Currently, all EDF activities are divided into three main projects. The same approach is taken in our response to COVID-19:

• Local Community Development
• Youth Empowerment – with a business and entrepreneurial approach
• Entrepreneurship Lab in Schools

I. Local Community Development

As it was not possible to be physically present to implement our programs in Sistan and Balouchestan, EDF reviewed its ongoing projects and adapted them to the current situation. Our project Personal and Social Empowerment of Adolescents and Youths in Zahedan province substituted activities that needed physical presence with other safe and possible replacements. Consequently, we managed to prevent the project from a forced stop. The target group of this project are involved in summer internships and student-master courses, and university entrance exam preparation programs.

Another branch of Hoda House (local NGO) has been established in Negor city of Sistan and Baluchestan province all with the efforts and participation of our local facilitators and charitable bodies and individuals with the aim of empowering female-headed households and create self-help groups. Various local handicrafts will be crafted in the House include costume sewing, needlework, etc. The procurement of food products is another activity of Hoda House in Negor. To initiate their activities, women of Hoda House are involved in a local mask production workshop that brings both a stream of income for their families, and at the same time improves the safety of families with less access to resources and health products during the pandemic.

Other activities in the division of Local Community Development include:

• Live discussions on Instagram:
• “How not to give up doing good?”

A discussion on the challenges of local NGOs during the pandemic, in a conversation between Zahra Emrani, EDF’s board member, and Marzieh Mahmoodi, EDF’s project officer.

• “Neighborhood-oriented management”

A discussion on the role of local NGOs and facilitators in protecting communities during the pandemic, in a conversation between Firouzeh Saber, EDF’s founder, and Neda Shams, EDF’s CEO.

• “The Technique of Responsible Companionship with and for the People”

A series of online workshops conducted by Kazem Motavali and Naser Nourbakhsh. The workshop brought together for the first time local facilitators from different ethnicities and provinces of Iran.

II. Youth empowerment

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children and their families in myriad ways, with some vulnerable families feeling the effects more severely. Similarly, the pandemic has also affected small and micro businesses in diverse facets. Throughout the years, EDF has supported a large network of small business owners, the majority of whom are women in underserved areas of Iran, through training, consultations, and facilitating activities. We stood with them through the difficult situations that had left many of them hopeless, many whom feared losing their businesses entirely. We teamed up with the private business sector, and experts in organizing 10 webinars in the field of business resilience solutions. All webinars included personal support and consultations for the participants on how to deal and adjust their businesses to the new pandemic environment and to come up with new creative solutions. The list of webinars is as follows:

• Terms and Conditions for Small Businesses
• Basic principles of accounting
• Digital marketing
• Sublimation and organizational leadership
• Expert webinar on agriculture and animal husbandry
• Expert webinar on garment and tailoring
• Expert webinar on the food industry
• Expert webinar on services
• Expert webinar on handicraft
• Human resources management webinar

In addition, EDF live discussions were streamed for the public:

• Continuity of micro-businesses in Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis – By Zahra Rahaei, member of EDF’s board of director
• Use of space and virtual services in the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis – By Behrouz Ahmadzadeh, Marketing & Branding Advisor
• The necessity of managerial competencies in the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis – By Naser Barati, member of EDF’s board of directors

III. Entrepreneurship Lab in Schools

Entrepreneurship Lab in Schools is a sought after annual program implemented by EDF in South Khorasan and Sistan and Balouchestan that focuses on students. Virtual workshops were implemented for teachers and students and after a difficult year impacted by the pandemic, Entrepreneurship Lab arrived at the last stage of the 2019-2020 academic year. Students involved in this project showcased their work and services in a virtual exhibition held in this manner due to the coronavirus pandemic. This virtual exhibition was held in cooperation with Dastadast, a nonprofit online platform that supports small business owners, local and rural handicraft makers and connects them to buyers.

IV. Researches and more virtual training programs

EDF also conducted international comparative research on available supports for SMEs in the COVID-19 crisis. The results of the research were published as a guidebook in partnership with Iran NGO Network so all more than 160 national NGOs could benefit from it, adjusting their programs, and designing new projects.

A live discussion (including a question and answer session) based on the results of this research was also streamed on Instagram. It was a conversation between Marzieh Mahmoodi, project officer at EDF, and Shima Vezvaei, communication manager at EDF.

Local Community Development: local NGOs, collective support, and continuing the path of empowerment

Another branch of Hoda House established this time in Negor city, Sistan and Balouchestan province of Iran. This local nonprofit is now open with the effort of local facilitators with the aim of empowering female-headed households and creating self-help groups. Various types of native handicrafts will be produced such as sewing costume, needlework, etc. The procurement of local food is another activity for women which aims at starting group business for and by women of the House.

Additionally, our joint project of Personal and Social Empowerment of adolescents and youth in Zahedan province continues conducting technical skills programs, as well as internships and student-master courses for its target group (consist of 200 young adults) this summer.

Entrepreneurship Lab in Schools: Students’ efforts flourished

After a COVID-difficult year, Entrepreneurship Lab arrives reaches its last station of 2019-2020 academic year. Students involved in this project showcased their work and services in a virtual exhibition – due to the coronavirus pandemic. This virtual exhibition was held in cooperation with Dastadast, a nonprofit online platform that supports small business owners and handicraft makers and connects them to buyers.

Youth Empowerment: a new start

Due to the growing need of young small business owners, particularly women in marginalized areas whose micro-businesses drastically damaged during the pandemic, for training and consultation in the current economic crisis, EDF initiated a series of webinars in the field of small business resilience. 10 specialized webinars are set to be taught by experts and business consultants of which digital marketing, accounting, laws and regulations, crisis management, etc. can be mentioned.

by Marzieh Mahmoudi

The Entrepreneurship Lab in Schools has been designed by EDF for the first time in Iran and it has been implemented in 7 cities since the year 2010.