Assessment on the Impact of Microcredit Provided by Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation on Population Sustainment in Rural Areas (Case study: Khomein County)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of microcredit provided by Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation (IKRF) on preventing rural outflow migrations. This study is an applied research, its methodology is descriptive-analitical and the instrument used was questionnaire. Without any need for sampling, all 142 persons who received employment microcredits from IKRF in Khomein County in year 2014 were subjects of our study. Because of lack of access to all statistical population, questioning was conducted for 121 households and the resulting data were analyzed by using Wilcoxon test, t single sample, Pearson and structural equation modeling. The results of hypothesis tests using Pearson correlation coefficient show that microcredit provided by IKRF has a positive effect with beta 0/719 on the economic situation and household income and with beta coefficient of 0/340 on population sustainment with an error level of error of less than to %5. In addition, Pearson correlation coefficient for the relationship between household income and population sustainment is 0/369 for an error level of less than %5 and this result confirms this hypothesis. So creating jobs through microcredit and giving priority to investment for creation of new employment opportunities can be one of effective ways to prevent irrational migration from rural areas.

Keywords

• microcredit
• imam khomeini relief foundation
• rural migration
• employment
• income