Our Goal
Parto School started its work in the summer of 2009 with the aim of providing social entrepreneurship training and developing practical solutions for social problems. This was inspired by the achievements of social entrepreneurs, such as Jabar Baghcheban (founder of Iran’s first school for the deaf) and Arsen Minasian (founder of Iran’s first home for the elderly), who pioneered new ways to serve their local disability communities despite economic, social, and cultural challenges.
In 2011, after considering participant needs and the educational gaps in the field of advocacy, Parto School began providing training focusing on activism and advocacy in addition to social entrepreneurship. Over time, participant interest and demand pushed these courses in a more specialized direction to support activists in a variety of fields. Now Parto School offers these courses through two platforms, “Parto School of Advocacy” and “Parto School of Activism and Advocacy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. Throughout the last decade, Parto School has supported hundreds of persons with disabilities and disability rights activists by offering courses on advocacy and disability justice. Parto School of Activism and Advocacy continues to offer such courses and hopes to help local activists identify challenges in their communities, along with their solutions, by building their capacity and removing barriers for persons with disabilities to be equal members of society.
Our values
Teamwork: We at Parto School work collaboratively with our participants to achieve the school’s educational goals by recognizing different work styles, hand in hand and step by step with each other.
Transparency: Parto School maintains transparency about its pedagogy, techniques and content, sources of knowledge acquisition, and school rules and expectations.
Privacy: Participants can join Parto School courses with the username of their choice. Parto School does not share personal information with any other person, institution or organization (for advertising or other purposes).
Empowerment: Parto School’s educational content is designed based on concepts like sustainable development and aims to enhance analytical skills, problem solving, social participation, and collective decision making. Parto students will be equipped with techniques to find solutions as opposed to receiving them.
Applicability: Parto School does not rely solely on theoretical subjects. Discussions and educational content in Parto courses include practical and real-world examples and implementation strategies.
Equality: Students of Parto School from any village, city, or province and with any background or religious, gender, and sexual identity have equal rights to use the school’s services and be treated with dignity.
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Parto School was founded in 2009 with the support of Eurasia Foundation and provides its services with the aim of increasing advocacy skills for activists in the field of disability rights. Parto School does not support any political groups in Iran or other parts of the world.