Abstract:

Improving rural empowerment is considered one of the essential components of sustainable rural development. However, the actual improvement of various dimensions of structural empowerment affected by the performance of internal and individual and characteristics of local government in the process of sustainable rural development has not yet received much attention in many developing countries such as Iran, and few studies in this field. Therefore, to address this gap, the present study seeks to identify the endogenous factors affecting local government performance to improve structural empowerment indicators for sustainable rural development. Based on this, the villages around the desert regions of Iran were selected as a case study. A questionnaire was completed from villagers' perspectives to assess exogenous factors influencing local government performance to improve structural empowerment. The analysis of these questionnaires focused on the indicators of structural empowerment, local government performance, and dimensions of sustainable rural development. The research methodology was performed by structural equation modeling. The results showed that although villagers' structural empowerment is affected by the performance of internal and individual and characteristics of local government using experimental data, it impacts the dimensions of sustainable rural development. But, the endogenous factors affecting the performance of local government, especially in top-down political systems such as Iran, as inherent obstacles in improving the structural empowerment of villagers are still significant. The research findings also showed that if the challenges of endogenous factors affecting local government and confirming the power of villagers are met, their capabilities will increase, and local government and villagers can use this capability. This article concludes with the consequences of this analysis for improving rural empowerment in sustainable rural development.

Introduction:

Kanter raised the structural empowerment approach in 1977. This approach has been emphasized to the communities' access to four environmental factors: opportunity, information, support, and resources (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2015). Opportunity factor points to independence, growth, a sense of challenge, and an opportunity to learn and grow. Information points to the data, technical knowledge, and expertise required for the effective performance of the individual in her position. Support refers to receiving helpful feedback from managers, colleagues, and subordinates. Finally, the resources factor refers to the money, materials, requirements, equipment, and time needed to accomplish the goals of the organization and the community (Hayes et al., 2014, Santosa, 2014). According to Kanter, Power and capability are gained when that local community has access to Necessary information, learning, development opportunities, support, and access resources (Wallace et al., 2011, Amor et al., 2019). Kanter believed When stakeholders in different societies Gain access to empowering structures such as Information, learning and development opportunities, support, and resources, They feel "power" As a result, are improved their function and participation; otherwise, they will feel "powerless"(Guo et al., 2016, Amor et al., 2019). Based on what Rowland in 1995 and other researchers such as Foucault (1989), Fraser (1989), Giddens (1994), Harding (1995), Hartsock (1998), said empowerment is an empowering, empowering process, and in the sense of changing human behavior and behavior to achieve the desired goals (Amartya Sen 1995; Rowlands, 1995; Strelezecka et al., 2017).

Internal features of local government and progress of structural empowerment of villagers:

Rural development policy can be considered as improving the social and economic life of villagers, which requires efficient management (Marsden & Hovardas, 2020). Local and rural government is the process of organizing, guiding the community and the rural environment through the formation of organizations and institutions (Brandt et al., 2004). Today, rural management traditionally does not respond to the optimal management and administration of rural areas due to the more complex challenges of rural areas. For this reason, in recent years, several approaches in rural management have been proposed for the optimal performance of this management, one of the most important of which is the local government approach (Van Der Broek & Brown, 2015; Lubilo & Hebinch, 2019).

Local government is a set of activities that shape and guide local areas' economic, physical, and social development. The goal of local government is to manage the components of the local system. McGill (1998), on the other hand, has a more comprehensive view of Local government and believes that Local government should be seen as a holistic, inclusive, and integrated process. Inclusiveness means that it includes all local actors and actors, and integration means that local development is seen as the goal of local government, with the development of capacities and capacity building of villagers. Thus, local governance goes beyond issues such as biodiversity, human welfare, place identity, and economic development; and that is the connection between the actors and the stakeholders involved in the development and involvement of a wide range of villagers (Sharma & Kirkman, 2015; Lare & Corral, 2017).

Research method

The study area is the desert villages and the surrounding desert plain of Iran (Figure 2). The selection of these villages was made for two reasons: First, the special geographical features of the villages in the study area, such as settlement around desert areas, which has made the sustainability of life, livelihood, and habitation of such villages very challenging due to lack of water and drought. Therefore, empowering the villagers in such settlements enables them to stabilize their living conditions and livelihood.

Second, the profound changes that have taken place in recent decades result from the extensive interaction of local managers with the villagers and the extensive empowerment programs and activities that have taken place. Formal and informal organizations have carried out these programs in rural settlements of the study area and according to the type and way of life and agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Centers offering training courses and empowerment of local and rural management in Iran are formal (government) and semi-formal centers and actors in the field of rural development management, which are the focus of rural participation in the rural development management process (Table 1). Therefore, recognizing the role of these centers in improving the empowerment of villagers and local government to participate in social and economic activities helps to improve the dimensions of sustainable development. Therefore, the importance of measuring the relationship between local governments, structural empowerment, and improving the dimensions of sustainable rural development in developing countries such as Iran is becoming more apparent.

Finding and discussion:

Improving the structural empowerment indicators of the villagers, influenced by the internal and individual characteristics of local government, can provide the ground for the development of sustainable development dimensions in rural settlements. Accordingly, this study examined two hypotheses to examine and analyze this issue. The Research results showed that the internal and individual characteristics of local government positively affect the structural empowerment of villagers. These results are consistent with the findings of studies such as (Day et al., 2016), (Tavares et al., 2014), (Bastakoti & Chalermphol, 2021), and (Afsharipour et al., 2021). Previous research has emphasized the role of local governments in decentralizing and increasing cooperation between the people and the government to increase the number of knowledgeable and skilled workforce and improve the empowerment and participation of the local community.

These studies showed that local government had provided the right context for empowerment and capacity building of communities.

On the other hand, the results of the present study are consistent with studies such as those (Webber & Donahue, 2001), (Gellner & Veen, 2009), (Eneh, 2011), (Atanga, 2020) and (Steimanis et al., 2020). Because, in the mentioned researches, they point to the efficiency of government in continuous education and supervision and purposeful planning and improve the empowerment and strengthen the self-reliance of local communities. And have stated that there is a positive relationship between informed and knowledgeable managers, trained and an appropriate administrative and organizational structure in improving local government and increasing participation and empowerment of communities. In contrast, the results do not agree with the research findings (Cinner et al., 2009). This study has pointed to the low performance of management and its improvement to improve the capabilities of rural communities. In this regard, the study (Shakil Ahmad & Abu Talib, 2014), in addition to empowering local communities on project sustainability, has emphasized further promotion and continuous support of local government to enhance the empowerment of rural areas economy.



Conclusions and suggestions:

In local government, the concepts of guided and centralized planning and management, whose solutions were merely design and implementation from the top down, have lost their place. In this type of management, leadership and management organize their management by understanding the dynamics and nature of the "bottom-up" approach, supportive behavior, mechanisms of "generative empowerment" of villagers, and creating self-confidence and self-confidence among local communities and institutions. Therefore, this study, influenced by the structural empowerment approach of Kanter (1977), Rowlands power theory (1995), and other researchers and theorists in this field, to influence the dimensions of sustainable rural development from local Government performance (internal and individual characteristics ) In promoting the structural empowerment of the villagers.

The flow of local government is such that all community members are exposed from the lowest level of development to the highest level of self-awareness. As a fundamental factor in various agricultural and non-agricultural activities, Villagers have a fundamental and very important role in participating in the required workforce in the rural community. In such a way that implementing programs and plans in the direction of sustainable rural development is impossible without their participation. In addition, according to the literature, sustainable rural development is itself a function of promoting the structural empowerment of villagers, whose individual and internal characteristics of local government affect their performance in this regard. So that local government by improving structural empowerment indicators such as opportunity, information, support, and access; can pave the way for their participation in rural programs and projects in sustainable rural development. In other words, when the dimensions of empowerment are stronger in societies, the inhabitants are more likely to take advantage of economic opportunities, community building and increase the capacity to participate and participate in socio-economic activities. Therefore, although empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable rural development, on other hand, sustainable rural development is one of the effective factors in creating empowerment. This two-way relationship reveals the importance and necessity of paying attention to the performance of management and the local community and their participation and cooperation in sustainable rural development.