Analyzing the effects of cash payment subsidiary on rural focus group empowerment (Case study area: rural members of Khodabandeh townships relief foundation and welfare organization)

IntroductionMany developing countries have achieved considerable progress in reducing poverty over the Last 30 years due to high rates of economic growth and broad-based development programmes.
However, even where growth has had a great impact on poverty in the aggregate, pockets of Poverty have persisted among marginalized groups such as indigenous peoples and those living in marginalized and remote areas, where the incidence of poverty is typically greater than among the rest of society. In Rural sustainable Development Process, Poverty Eradication, providing the essential needs and poor’s empowerments in different dimensions, have an important position. Economic and social capabilities did not feature in the old agenda, despite their major role in driving poverty reduction and development. Then, in recent decades, so many of solutions had been presented and matched by different countries for poverty reduction or Eradication that entrepreneurship development, micro credit allocation, subsides targeting, Cash assistance grants and …are some of these solutions and are implementing for rural economic empowerment especially in focus groups. Then, for assisting the social weak and poor groups and those empowering, so many of countries, use of low benefit loans and some of them use of cash payments subsidies allocation to rural poor people, that in the recent years, this policy are implementing in Iran too. Subsidies targeting as a one of the economical tools for poverty reduction especially in rural area that use by so many of governments. It will be able to Enhancing access to skills and strengthening grass-roots organizations have also proved effective in reaching the poorest and the marginalized, and promoting their participation and contribution to development processes. Cash payment subsidiary is an effective way for rural empowerment that is experimented in Iran’s rural area too. For this regards, the key question of this study is that how Cash payment subsidiary could be effective for rural empowering as a main goal of subsides targeting?
MethodologyThis practical study had been done based on analytical- explanation method and assessing the effects of cash payment subsidiaries on rural focus group empowerment is the main purpose of that. In the present study, Used Data had been gathered through documentary and field observation methods and questionnaire filling based on 16 indicators that had been extracted from theoretical framework. Sample community of this research contain all rural families that are Khodabandeh relief foundation and welfare organization members (7207) and 365 family had been selected by Cochran’s formula as a case study community and samples distributions was randomly. Also, K2 and T-test, correlations and regression statistical method had been used for data analyzing in this study.
FindingBased on gained result, effective dimensions of subsidiaries cash payment are on medical and health care accesses, improving the food diet among rural people, and Increase the purchasing power. In micro level - items- the highest impact was on the reduction of monetary tablets, installment purchase supplies, power repayment, purchase basic necessities and living tools (TV, washing machine and. ..), Reducing self-medication, conduct periodic tests ups, prepared educational needs of children, increasing weekly consumption of protein (meat and fish) at meals, weekly consumption of fruits and vegetables in the diet can be seen. But overall correlation between dependent and independent variables indicate that there is a correlation between them, but the important point is that the intensity of relationship between them is different. In the other words, there is high and significant relationship between subsidiaries receipt and changing the indicators such as increased economic risk, diversification of diet, increase purchasing power, improve access to health care, improving access to education. Also, the result of regression examination show that cash payment subsidiaries had most effects on economical risk accepting indicators (0.184), diversification of diet (0.181) and increasing the power of purchasing (0.169).
DiscussionIn general, donor support to empowerment processes is most effective around issues that are seen as pressing challenges for poor rural people livelihoods. In this study it was found that cash payment subsidy had less impact on the lives of rural target groups and empowers them. In most cases, mean of studied indicators and items, are lower than the theoretical average. Because, increasing the cost of energy and level of inflation, had been lead to the reduction of rural people’s power, especially in target groups and in different fields. It seems that in years of beginning the subsidiaries cash payment, its effects on rural targets group was tangible, but over time due to inflation and cost of living increasing, and a gradual increase of intermittent energy prices, without any changing at the amount of subsidy payments, effects of subsidies for empowering the rural target groups had been reduced. In the other hands, lack of educational base for job creating and investing in addition to less mount of subsidy payments, leads rural families to buying the essential commodity and needed material at family.
Based on gained result it’s possible that cash payment subsides help the rural people for managing the resource. Three quarters of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, and their livelihoods depend on farming, pastoral ism, forestry, and artisan fishing – all of which can be subsumed under the term agriculture. Agriculture and natural resource management are crucial for pro-poor growth; empowerment is key factor to the success and sustainability of development initiatives in these areas. Based on the result of former studies in this phase and also, the result of this study, it may had some negative effect in addition to positive effects, but managing style of subsides is so important for decreasing the weakness and improving the benefits of it. Empowering the rural people could be happen in different factors and the effects of governmental subsides is really significant for achieving to sustainable development.