An Investigating into the Role of Facilitation and Local Development Offices in Empowering Development of Target Areas (Case Study: Naserkhosrow Neighborhood of Isfahan)

The establishment of local facilitation and development offices has been on the agenda of governments in recent years in order to empower and develop marginalized and disadvantaged neighborhoods. The purpose of this study is investigating the success rate and impact of facilitation offices on the empowerment of residents in the development target areas. For this descriptive-analytical study, Naserkhosrow neighborhood, which is one of the suburbs of Isfahan and the Office of Facilitation and Local Development that was established in 2019 to empower residents, were studied as a sample study. The statistical population of this study was estimated 375 people according to Cochran's formula and 5% error coefficient was used for data analysis. The results showed a significant relationship between the actions of the facilitation office with the empowerment of residents of Naserkhosrow neighborhood in psychological, social and political-civil dimensions. The facilitation office has the greatest impact on the social dimension with 40/5 percent and the least impact is on the political-civic dimension of empowerment with 2/3 percent. Considering the medium-term and sometimes long-term empowerment process, as well as the emergence of facilitation offices, it seems that these offices can take an effective step in the development and empowerment of residents of marginalized and disadvantaged neighborhoods.