The Role of Facilitators in Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship: Implications for Facilitation Training

The aim of this research was to identify and explain the functions and capabilities of facilitators to promote rural women's entrepreneurship so that the results can be used to integrate facilitation in agricultural extension. This survey research was conducted in rural areas of Galikesh county, Golestan province. The statistical population of this study included facilitators and rural women of Galikesh county. The respondents (n=204) were selected by stratified random sampling. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was developed based on the literature review and interviews with a group of key informants in the form of a tri-dimensional model; its content validity according to the opinions of the expert group, and its reliability by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient [α = .964, α = .960 ] and C.R. [.967, .962] was confirmed. According to the findings, most of the respondents evaluated the functions of facilitators (47.06%), the capabilities of facilitators (52.94%), and the facilitation impacts (46.57) at a moderate level. According to the Spearman correlation coefficient, there is a positive and significant relationship between the three components of facilitation functions, facilitation capabilities, and facilitation impacts. According to the structural model test, the research variables explain 75% of the variance of the dependent variable, the consequences of the facilitators' activities, and the independent variable of capabilities explains 58.9% of the variance of the mediating variable of functions.