Social Impact of Natural Resources Management Comprehensive Project in West Part of Shiraz County as Perceived by Local Sustainable Development Cooperative's Members

Social impact assessment is a process that assesses or estimates social consequences which occur due to the implementation of a developmental project or special policy in national and provincial level. This research was conducted to assess social impact of Natural Resources Management Comprehensive Project in west part of Shiraz County (Bunroode Zangeneh sub watershed) as perceived by its beneficiaries to provide solutions to enhance the appropriateness of the project by using qualitative and quantitative research methods and survey technique and semi-structured interviews. The sample group in this study included 268 members of local Natural Resources and Watershed Management Cooperatives. Stratified random sampling was used to select the cooperatives members. In qualitative part of research, internal and external factors affecting the project were recognized and classified according to users’ viewpoint by using SWOT analysis. Twenty persons of the cooperatives members were selected as sample group for qualitative part of the research. Findings of this part of the research revealed that the project affected the social factors (human development, legal affairs toward land ownership). Internal analysis of the project revealed that compatibility of project goals with the interests of local people was one of the important social strengths of the project. Also, failure to adequately monitoring on the proper execution of the laws was one of the important social weaknesses of the project. External analysis of the project from users’ viewpoint revealed that existence of cooperatives and members’ participation was recognized as one of the important opportunities of the project. Also, changing attitudes towards the project as a result of changing the project managers was recognized as one of the important social threats of the project. Several recommendations have been presented at the end of the research to more appropriateness of the project execution in the future.