Humanitarian Protection And Community Restoration In Islamic Republic Of Iran

The project corresponds to the provincial priorities as officially indicated by the Provincial Governor of Kermanshah (letter from the Governor on file) and reportedly mentioned by other existing working groups, currently in charge of community recovery in the earthquake-affected area of Kermanshah both in humanitarian aid and construction sectors. Considering that Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, this project is being proposed for developing replicable guidelines, public and professional networks, and infrastructural frameworks for improving situations that have mostly been marginalised in post disaster resource mobility. After a disaster, as most of the resources are focused on housing reconstruction, the issues addressed in this project including lack of access to basic services and psychosocial aid, specifically for more vulnerable groups such as children, women, elderly, etc., hinders community recovery and intensifies the risk of secondary hazards.Community participation is considered a critical factor in all stages of disaster preparation and recovery. It includes active involvement of communities in prevention and reduction of vulnerabilities, preparedness, response and recovery. Best practices indicate that sole intervention of governments in disasters is proved insufficient and there is a critical need for community-based action to successfully address all aspects of disasters through resource management and collective effort. Casualties and loss is shown to be decreased in communities that are equipped with community-based disaster risk management action plans.Gender is considered an important factor in vulnerability of community members. Women are more vulnerable in disaster situations as they face multiple challenges such as lack of safety, sanitation, increased financial difficulties specially in women headed households, etc. Unlike the common belief in Iran, actual experience in Kermanshah indicates that the issues addressed in this project are greatly affecting daily lives and overall physical and psychological health of affected households and lack of proper response has caused multiple tragic impacts like increase in suicide rate and reported depression or higher risk of physical injuries and diseases mostly in groups with particular needs, such as children, women, elderly, etc.The outcomes of this project could be adopted in future similar situations and will help improve overall national standards in disaster risk management and response.

• One of the main goals of UN-Habitat Tehran office is to assist the Government of I.R. of Iran to improve the level of public health by preserving the environment using the technologies of the day. Hence, this project falls within the UN-Habitat Country program 2018-2021 (currently under government approval) and is in line with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2017-2021.
• UN-Habitat has carried out a series of training courses, conferences, seminars, workshops and high-level meetings in recent times with the partnership of organisations and departments in I.R. Iran and other international partners with different themes. With this interregional expertise exchange programme, UN-Habitat is going to involve many experts in the region in various levels, among them, managers in official organisations, researchers and professional practitioners are the main target.
• UN-Habitat has carried out strong experience and hold professional expertise in post disaster recovery and has extensive cooperation with national organisations including BHRC, IRHF, MoRUD, and etc. UN-Habitat also has capacities in cooperation with international NGOs and UN agencies, therefore by transferring this knowledge and experience, along with close partnership with national working groups, community recovery in earthquake- affected areas would reach higher standards.