Analysis of Achievements and Barriers of Rural Women Micro Credit Funds, Case Study: Golestan Province

The micro credit fund is a mechanism for mobilizing financial resources and granting small loans in order to launch sustainable income-generating activities and strengthen women's participation in the rural development process. This descriptive and survey research, aimed to identify achievements and barriers ahead the micro credit funds of rural women in 2019 in Golestan province. The statistical population of the study was 913 members of 19 rural women micro credit funds in Golestan province. Using Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling, 226 of them were selected as research samples. Data gathered through a researcher made questionnaire and its face validity was confirmed by experts. The reliability analysis was calculated with Cronbach alpha coefficient and it was 0.91 for achievements section and 0.84 for barriers section. The research findings showed that 9 achievements consist of social, occupation, group production work, entrepreneurial, self reliance, control on financial resources, responsibility acceptance, family stable and gender equity, explain about 61% cumulative variance of the funds’ achievements and 10 barriers consist of participation barrier, barrier the loss of governmental support, mistrust barrier, individual barrier, cultural-economical barrier, dependence barrier and lack of independence, family poverty barrier, lack of control barrier, cover barrier and hazards, explain 63.6 % cumulative variance of barriers ahead the funds. This study recommended the focus of the fund's activities on achieving all the goals in a balanced way, with an emphasis on educating members and providing the necessary intellectual and practical contexts to promote members' participation in decision-making.