Message the Conference

Help us and let us help you

The Society to Support Children Suffering from Cancer widely known by its acronym, MAHAK, was set up in 1991 as a non-governmental and non-profit organization with the registration number of 6567 with the supreme motivation of supporting cancer-stricken children below 16 years of age and their families. By March 2018 this charity organization has supported over 30,000 cancer-stricken children and their families. MAHAK, in line with preserving the dignity of the children with cancer and their families tries to always keep them happy and full of hope in a way that their families will have no concerns other than the recovery and wellbeing of their children. MAHAK's activities are divided to three sections of charity, treatment and research. This organization is a genuine symbol for public contributions to society; this has been highlighted in the motto of MAHAK that is "Help us and ask for help".

Mission Statement

MAHAK is a philanthropy established with the charitable and altruistic goal of serving humanity by combatting pediatric cancer nationally and internationally through medical care, research and support services. MAHAK is a non-profit, non-political, and non-governmental charity, dependent exclusively on public support provided in the form of funds, as well as in-kind, goods, services, and technical expertise.

Offering comprehensive services to children with cancer and their families, providing the most advanced and effective treatment services while observing the International Charter of Patients’ Rights, employing up-to-date scientific advances and establishing a new research center in order to contribute to identifying the causes of childhood cancer, and its preferred methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment comprise the mission of this organization.

Since 27 years ago that we established the home of love and named it "MAHAK", we believed that we will never be alone in the path of supporting children with cancer and their families as far as sympathy and helping the fellow beings are rooted in the ancient customs of people in our country; people who have made the manifestation of the concept of social responsibility regardless of their profession, art or interest. These benevolent people, who are members of the ever-expanding family of MAHAK, have never left the cancer-stricken children alone in their hard treatment path.

The trust that the ever-expanding family of MAHAK has put in the governance body of this organization is the most valuable asset for MAHAK. Therefore, we have repeatedly had our performance assessed and measured by international organizations to ensure that it deserves to be trusted. MAHAK's becoming the Gold Winner of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) in 2018 for MAHAK's HLA Typing Project is one of the mentioned assessments.

MAHAK began its activities 27 years ago by developing the idea that cancer is curable and has always been concerned with the promotion of constructive ideas and culture as one of the first steps of any change. Therefore since 2011 relying on the concept of supporting the fellow beings and with the concern of promoting Social Responsibility both theoretically and practically, MAHAK has held four congresses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and now in the 5^th congress focusing on planning models, implementation models and reporting standards in order to help accomplish the concern which has been focused by experts, managers and the owners of business entities for many years.

We believe that organizing such congresses will be the beginning of the path which paves the way for easing the pains in the society in a more proper way by relying on the capacities of the civil society.

On behalf of MAHAK's Board of Directors we pay tribute to the collaboration and support of the ever-expanding family of MAHAK and we truly believe we will constantly be honored with this companionship.

MAHAK's Board of Directors

Promoting the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility for Over a Decade

MAHAK- the Society to Support Children Suffering from Cancer- in the Introduction section of its first strategic plan which has been written in 2006 has emphasized the importance of promoting the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by NGOs and business entities and has targeted to have a key role in this field.

The first step in meeting this goal has been organizing and holding The 1^st International Exhibition of Poster Designs focusing on "Childhood Cancer and Corporate Social Responsibility" in 2011 with the cooperation of Iranian Graphic Designers Society (IGDS). Afterwards, in order to promote and institutionalize the concept of CSR, congress was decided to be held focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility on the occasion of the International Day of Childhood Cancer (ICCD) . Since then, four International CSR Congresses have been held as follows:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility and Childhood Cancer (2011)
2. Corporate Social Responsibility and Childhood Cancer (2013)
3. Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Development (2015)
4. Corporate Social Responsibility: Practical Experiences in Civil Society (2017)

The first and the second Corporate Social Responsibility Congresses aimed to promote the concept and to introduce the literature of the field, and the third reviewed the status of corporate social responsibility in the international community, especially from the perspective of the United Nations Global Compact sustainability principles. The fourth congress scrutinized the practical CSR projects in national and international fields with a functional approach. In this congress the first Corporate Social Responsibility project of MAHAK was introduced with the theme of inaugurating the first HLA Typing Bank as a joint project with business entities. In 2018, MAHAK received the Gold Award of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) in the category of Sustainable Development Projects for "Developing MAHAK's HLA Typing Bank" project.

The turning point for the fourth congress was the scientific support of "Management and Economics Faculty of Sharif University of Technology" and "Department of Management, Science and Technology of Amir Kabir University" as two academic institutions in which created the opportunity to target the fifth congress in 2019 with the themes of "planning models, implementation models, and reporting standards," with the scientific and academic capacities available to them. We wish MAHAK will achieve these goals with the cooperation of the experts and enthusiasts who participate in this congress.

It should be noted that the greatest achievement of holding the four International CSR congresses has been promoting this concept among NGOs, business entities and public and governmental sections of Iran in a way that holding national CSR congresses by governmental organizations and also defining the standard, symbol and statue of CSR by these organizations suggests the successful promotion of this concept in the country. Undoubtedly, this continuous and sustained effort has played a major role in becoming addressed by other organizations in recent years.

Over 12 years of focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility, it would have never become possible without the participation of economic and management activists, public and private organizations, chambers of commerce, and national and international companies. Here, we appreciate the valuable contributions of all who have accompanied us during these years.

Arasb Ahmadian