UNHCR Representative, Sivanka Dhanapala and FAO Representative, Serge Nakouzi, welcome new strategic partnership.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran warmly welcomes the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as the latest partner to the Solution Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR).
Launched in 2012, the SSAR is a quadripartite multi-year regional strategy which aims to ensure the protection of Afghan refugees in Iran whilst seeking to find durable solutions for them in the coming years. Five outcomes guide the SSAR in Iran:
Following a visit to the region by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in June this year, the SSAR was realigned to include the regional ‘Resilience and Solutions Measures’. These measures contribute to building the resilience of Afghan refugees – especially the youth – and aim to better support host countries as Iran in providing protection and durable solutions to refugees.
FAO officially entered the SSAR partnership at the end of August, bringing the total number of partners to 29 including government organisations, UN agencies, National and International Non-Government Organisations and INGOs. Through its partnership, FAO will contribute towards SSAR objectives related to the agency’s Livelihoods activities which include livestock, fishery initiatives as well as nutritional projects in Iranian schools.
On 28 September during an informal exchange in the UNHCR Representative’s office in Iran, Mr. Sivanka Dhanapala extended his appreciation to FAO Iran Representative, Mr. Serge Nakouzi, and welcomed FAO’s new strategic partnership.
The meeting took place just prior to the quarterly SSAR coordination meeting held at the BAFIA premises the same day between the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA), UNHCR and all SSAR partners in Iran.
These quarterly meetings offer an opportunity for all partners to provide updates and strategic information-sharing on the implementation of the SSAR and Resilience and Solutions Measures in Iran.
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About FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is an agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO’s mission in the Islamic Republic of Iran is to continue building upon the policy and technical assistance lent by the Organization since the early 1970s in promoting the sustainable development of the country’s agricultural and rural sectors.
The Islamic Republic of Iran hosts one of the largest and protracted refugee populations in the world who have been in the country for almost forty years, and continues to generously provide them with services related to education, health and livelihoods. According to Amayesh IX refugee registration exercise, there are some 979,410 refugees in Iran (951,142 Afghan and 28,268 Iraqi refugees) out of which approximately 97% reside in the urban settings, and less than 3% reside in settlements.
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