Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Yaser Ghasemi Aryan ¹
• Firoozeh Moghiminejad ²
• Mohammadreza Shahraki ³
• Alireza Yari ⁴

¹ 1- Assistant Professor, Desert Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

² Research Expert of Natural Disasters Research Institute. Tehran, Iran

³ Researcher of rural development and social issues in the field of natural resources and agriculture, Golestan Province. Iran

⁴ 4- Executive expert, International Carbon Sequestration Project, General Directorate of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of South Khorasan Province. Iran

Abstract

Abstract:
Background and purpose
 The cooperative institution is considered the first and most essential pillar of strengthening social capital, whose stability guarantees the survival and continued participation of local communities in natural resource management projects. Village Development Group and Microcredit Fund are two important social and economic institutions in the implementation of the international project of revitalization of forested and degraded lands with special emphasis on lands sensitive to saline soils and lands prone to wind erosion (RFLDL) in Sarayan city of Khorasan province. It has been the southern region that has brought valuable lessons from the participation of users in the more effective implementation of projects to combat desertification. The stability of these institutions depends on the participation and activity of the members in the decision-making meetings of the development groups in order to strengthen the social, economic, human, natural and physical capital of the village, as well as complying with the regulations of the microcredit fund and depositing monthly small amounts. However, the low activity or liquidation of some of these institutions has become one of the important challenges and concerns of project executive experts. The current research was carried out with the aim of explaining the main factors of the instability of these institutions.
Methodology
This research is descriptive-analytical in terms of method, practical in terms of purpose, and the method of gathering information is two documentary and survey methods. The target community is all the members of the village development groups and micro credit funds in the target villages of the implementation of the RFLDL project in Sarayan city. The measuring tool of the research was a researcher-made questionnaire, based on Cochran's formula and matching with Karjesi and Morgan's table, 96 people were selected as a statistical sample. After validating the validity with the opinion of experts, the reliability of the questionnaire was 0.83, which shows that it is reliable. Data analysis was done using 22SPSS software. The relationship between variables was investigated using Smart PLS3 software. For this purpose, the factor load of each item was obtained.
Results
 The results related to the explanation of the main components of the sustainability of cooperative institutions were classified and prioritized in the form of 4 groups of social-cultural, economic-household, educational-promotional and policy-management factors. Based on this, in the socio-cultural factors, the items "lack of attention to the structural characteristics and composition of groups", "lack of commitment and sense of responsibility among group members" and "lack of a specific pattern for the preservation and survival of groups", in the economic factors, the items " The fund's small financial capital", "low amount of fund facilities" and "the inability of the fund to conclude contracts and attract funds from other sources", in the educational-promotional factors, the items "non-simultaneity of skill training with granting loans" and "insufficient training for effective use" of facilities" and in policy-management factors, the item "non-provision of government facilities to support the funds" had the highest priority. The results of the hypothesis examination and path analysis also showed that the management-policy component with a coefficient of 0-0.581 had the strongest negative and significant effect on the sustainability of cooperative institutions at the level of 99%.
Conclusion
 In general, the results of this research show that policy-management factors and social factors (especially the structure and composition of institutions) are considered as the most important factors of the stability of cooperative institutions. Therefore, it is suggested that experts and facilitators first strengthen organizational coordination and coherence at the level of government officials and, while securing appropriate credits, remove the legal obstacles to the participation of local communities in the implementation of projects to combat desertification. It is also necessary to consider network analysis studies, in order to achieve the appropriate composition of members, in the stage of establishment and establishment of institutions.

Keywords

• Social capital
• Network analysis
• Organizational cohesion
• Participation
• RFLDL international project
• Sarayan