Analyzing the effectiveness of government policies in the social and cultural development of rural areas with an emphasis on the five-year plans of economic, social and cultural development, case study: Astara county

Subject Areas : Geography and Rural Planning

Fereshteh Ebadolahian ¹ , Seyedah Sediqeh Hassani Mehr ² , Rafat Shahmari Ardjani ³ , Hossein Asghari ⁴

1 - PhD student of Geography and Rural Planning, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Astara, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Astara, Iran
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Astara, Iran

Received: 2023-06-26 Accepted : 2023-09-07 Published : 2023-11-22

Keywords: Rural Development, Astara County, Government policy making, development plans,

Abstract :

In Iran, the highest documents in the field of development policies of different regions and especially villages are related to 5-year economic, social and cultural development plans. In this regard, evaluating the impact of these development programs in realizing the development of rural areas can determine the role of government policy in the development of villages. For this purpose, the current research was written with the aim of evaluating the impact of government policies on the social and cultural development of the villages of Astara County, with an emphasis on the fourth, fifth and sixthdevelopment plans. The research method in the present research is mixed (quantitative-qualitative) with practical purpose and analytical-exploratory nature. The statistical population of the research also includes managers, officials and experts on rural issues in Gilan province and Astara county, and using Cohen's formula at the 95% confidence level, 70 people have been determined as the sample size. Also, in line with data analysis were used one-sample t-tests and two-sample t-tests in SPSS software. The findings of the research show that during the fourth and fifth plans, the rural literacy rate increased from 1.74 to 14.72 percent, the number of villages with health and treatment centers per 10,000 rural population increased from -1.05 to 6.86. Secondary schools have increased from 2 to 4 and the number of villages with libraries has also increased from -2 to 2 percent. Also, at the end of the 6th plan, we see slight changes in the investigated indicators compared to the 5th plan. In general, the effectiveness of the investigated development programs, especially the fifth program, can be evaluated positively in the socio-cultural development of the villages of Astara.