Project Title: Developing Sustainable Settlements for Afghan Refugees In
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Project Title: Developing sustainable settlements for Afghan refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran Project ID Number: 190041 Area/Location/Countries: Asia and Pacific, Islamic Republic of Iran Thematic code: HC3 Safeguarding the Environment, HC1 Creating Shared Prosperity RBM code: HC32 Clean energy access, HC13 Human Security and Post-crisis Rehabilitation Planned start – finishing date: 01.08.2019 – 31.07.2022 Duration: 36 months Government Coordinating agency & Executing agency/cooperating agency: Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) and Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MoIMT) Counterpart: Local governments, national institutions and agencies Budget: Project Inputs US$ 1,314,291 Programme Support Cost (13%) US$ 170,858 Counterpart Inputs - Gross Project Budget US$ 1,485,149 Brief description: The proposed project will facilitate resilient livelihood for refugees in Islamic Republic of Iran. The objective of the project is to promote sustainable infrastructure in five selected settlements to improve refugees’ livelihood through low-carbon energy, waste and water infrastructure. The key target group of the project will be the refugees residing in the settlements (with special attention to youth and women), with a view to strengthen their capacities and access to job opportunities through vocational trainings and appropriate action plans. A. CONTEXT A1. Project Purpose The strategic approach envisaged by United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO) is based on the premise that it is critical to enhance the access of communities to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for creating productive capacities and job opportunities. In addition, this approach emphasizes the need to empower refugees with skills, tools and knowledge to engage in economic activities and to ensure that they are able to sustain their daily lives with dignity in countries of their (temporary) settlement. This would essentially means, leaving no one behind. The project will aim to strengthen the low-carbon infrastructure (hardware), and provide refugees the necessary skills, tools and knowledge (soft activities) in clean technologies to join the workforce in these industries to adequately face future challenges. Providing cleaner and innovative technologies will include renewable energy (e.g. solar energy), energy efficiency (e.g. energy efficient cook stoves), waste-to-energy, water treatment, as well as sustainable connection to urban areas through innovative mobility concepts. As such, the project will bring innovation for sustainable settlement infrastructure, and deliver skills and tools to strengthen capacities of the refugees. This will primarily benefit the main target group of the project, i.e. the refugee population with particular emphasis on youth and women. Furthermore, this project is envisioned to contribute to long-term development gains such as capacity building of the government counterparts and settlement authorities, whose capacities are critical for the sustainable continuation of the project interventions. The project will thus deliver direct support to address the immediate needs of the people and the communities in question, in a way that will strengthen and improve the long-term capacities of the settlements. A2. Baseline Scenario Providing for close to 1 million registered Afghan refugees, Islamic Republic of Iran currently is ranked as the fifth largest refugee hosting country in the world. Of these refugees, 97 percent reside in urban or semi-urban areas across the country. The remaining three percent live in 20 government-run refugee settlements. UNIDO is a partner agency to the Solution Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) which is a tripartite agreement between Government of Iran and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNIDO. In line with the SSAR framework, Government’s inclusive strategy for Afghan Refugees is focused on three pillars, namely, health, education, and livelihoods. As a partner agency to the SSAR in Iran, UNIDO supports the Government’s strategy to develop and sustain self-reliance. The SSAR framework serves as the strategic basis to enable multilateral consensus building and to offer a framework for joint interventions which includes 29 different agencies, NGOs and ministries that work jointly on the three pillars. Connected to this ongoing effort, a portfolio of projects has been prepared for each country in 2014 and updated in 2015. This includes an integrated framework for multilateral cooperation and coordination between all partners. 2 The strategy compromises the following objectives with connection to the proposed project:1 Empower Afghan refugees through improved education, access to health services and livelihood opportunities Support the Government of Iran in the areas of education, health, shelter, water and the environment, in order to reduce the effects and consequences of the temporary presence of Afghan refugees Furthermore, SSAR is facilitating cross border cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran, linking skilled Afghan refugees in Iran with the job opportunities in Afghanistan. Providing financial services including business loans and micro credits are key interventions of the SSAR program, opening up possibilities of training and capacity building for refugees through the proposed project, in order to support their reintegration in their home country. The project has selected the five most populated Afghan refugee settlements in Markazi, Yazd, Semnan, Kerman and Khorasan as pilot project intervention sites. The selection of these settlements has been done based on a three month feasibility study in consultation with UNHCR and BAFIA. According to the SSAR report of 2018-2019, the five selected sites host 17,920 Afghan refugees of total number of 29,599 refugees who live in settlements. This would be equal to approximately two thirds of the refugee settlements in Iran. Most of the settlements have been established over 20 years ago and the shelters and other infrastructure (water, gas, electricity and public spaces) are in dire need of maintenance or rehabilitation to ensure the sanitary conditions and physical safety of Afghan refugees, and to improve their resilient livelihood in the country. Population of Refugee Settlements in Iran No. Province Settlement Population 1 Bushehr Dalaki 201 2 Jahrom 126 Fars 3 Sarvestan 577 4 Rafsanjan 5,389 Kerman 5 Bardsir 3,171 6 Kermanshah Songhor 25 7 Khorasan Torbat e Jam 4,020 8 Khuzestan Bani Najar 1,902 9 Kurdestan Varmahang 9 10 Lorestan Abazar 124 11 Markazi Saveh 4,839 12 Semnan Mohajerin 3,672 13 Ziveh 281 14 W. Azerbaijan Dilzeh 14 15 Bezileh 32 1 https://www.unhcr.org/protection/operations/539ab62a9/solutions-strategy-afghan-refugees-islamic-republic-iran- 20152016.html 3 16 Ardakan 2,982 17 Yazd Meybod 1,207 18 Taft 1,003 19 Zanjan Soltanieh 10 20 Khuzestan Ansar 15 Total 29,599 The role of UNIDO as a UN Specialized Agency is focused on the achievement of Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) by pursuing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”. Within the larger context of migration and humanitarian assistance, UNIDO works along the following guiding principles: - The development of infrastructures and productive systems should intervene at an early stage of the Humanitarian Refugee Response Plan (RRP) rather than in post-emergency planning. The capacity of refugees and local businesses should be reinforced in key areas such as: refugees Sites and Settlements; Energy; Water and Sanitation; Food Security; Non-food items; Financial assistance; - In laying the foundations for long term stabilization in the region, the role of industry and the private sector is central in both capacity building and empowering refugees and decreasing forced displacement as well as managing the effects of migration. This entails increasing preventive measures destined to build resilience and address the economic, social, cultural and environmental drivers of migration, while mitigating the negative impacts of migration on refugees and host communities. Developing human capital and skills and facilitating circular migration is essential to enhance positive economic effects of migration. The proposed project will aim to improve the livelihood condition of 17,920 refugees through 2 key intervention areas: - Resilient low-carbon infrastructure, such as energy, waste, water, transport in settlements - Strengthening capacity to engage in economic activities by starting up or working with the local service providers with special attention to vulnerable groups (women and youth) creating jobs and supporting business development INTERVENTION AREA ACTIVITIES TARGET BENEFICIARIES Resilient low-carbon Green energy provision, energy SETTLEMENT infrastructure incl. energy / efficiency, waste-to-energy, INFRASTRUCTURE: Settlement waste management / water / water treatment, mobility management, city mobility solutions administration Capacity strengthening for job Refugees creation with focus on clean INDIVIDUAL: Refugees, with (Vulnerable groups) technologies for startups and focus on women and youth entrepreneurs Private (manufacturing and/or Job creation in clean LOCAL ECONOMY: Refugee- service) sector technologies led startups and SMEs 4 The project will support a stable, environmentally friendly and sustainable energy supply within the target sites through integrated multifocal approach. The goal is to support ongoing efforts within the country to cope