Iran, UNICEF to Tap Innovative Solutions

EghtesadOnline: UNICEF and Iran’s Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology have forged partnership to support innovative solutions for addressing children- and youth-related issues in the country.

News ID: ۷۴۷۸۰۰

08 July 2019

According to the UN specialized agency’s Twitter account, a partnership agreement was signed between the two sides in Tehran on Sunday.

The agency said, “This cooperation will seek out new solutions for existing and emerging problems that children face.”

According to UNICEF, goals envisaged in the agreement include the formation of creative think tanks, a national network of “Innovations for Children”, awards to promote innovative solutions for children’s problems and mobilization of resources to support youth-led startups, Financial Tribune reported.

The UN agency has introduced similar projects across the world and even set up an “Office of Innovation”.

According to UNICEF, “Innovation at UNICEF is driven by an interdisciplinary team of individuals around the world tasked with identifying, prototyping and scaling technologies and practices that strengthen UNICEF’s work for children. Innovations range from new ways to structure program to foster new products and technologies.”

The agency noted that it is mostly focused on the following areas in the field, public-private partnerships, human-centered design, digital inclusion and connectivity, digital development, unmanned aerial vehicles, water sanitation and hygiene, humanitarian assistance, housing and infrastructure, health, gender, environment, energy, education, economic growth, trade and good governance.

Earlier, an agreement was signed between the United Nations children agency and Iran’s Pardis Technology Park in January. According to UNICEF Iran’s Twitter account, the agreement was also part of the project “Innovations for Children in Iran”, which is to be launched later this year.

The agreement was signed by Will Parks, UNICEF’s representative in Iran, and Mahdi Safarinia, director of Pardis Technology Park, the tech park’s press office reported.

As per the deal, development and application of child-friendly technologies are to be promoted for enhancing life and education for children.

Parks says, “UNICEF plans to contribute to the development of child-friendly technologies in Iran. We are also set to support tech projects that can be used for offering better services to children. Pardis Technology Park will play a key role in the realization of this goal.”

According to Safarinia, several projects have been defined in the agreement, including educational tech contests for children and supporting youth-oriented startups and knowledge-based firms.

Pardis Technology Park is based in Pardis, a satellite city 20 kilometers from central Tehran.