پژوهشهای مدیریت عمومی (Sep 2024)
Conceptualization of Policies, Strategies and Programs for Poverty Alleviation in Iran: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
Abstract Living poverty of citizens is one of the biggest challenges facing many governments around the world. Because its severity and continuity can endanger the political, social and economic life of countries. Many researches about poverty have been done in scientific and research circles, but so far no comprehensive research has been done to conceptualize policies, strategies and programs to reduce poverty in Iran. The final goal of this research was to outline the policies, strategies and programs of poverty alleviation in Iran based on a kind of qualitative research and in the light of qualitative data content analysis method in Iran. The time domain of the research is related to (the end of the war) 1368 and the geographical area of Iran. The research findings show that three main policies (regulation, support and promotion) and six strategies and 21 programs can be used to eliminate poverty in Iran. The results of this research will be useful for policy makers and executive managers as well as other researchers..Introduction Poverty is a common challenge in many countries, including our country. The common denominator is the understanding of poverty, deprivation and having or not having basic needs on the one hand and its abnormal nature from the perspective of the government and the people on the other hand. Therefore, poverty reduction is a challenge that every country in the world struggles with in some way (Liu et al. 2019). Undoubtedly, economic poverty can threaten the economic, political and social life of a nation on the one hand (Mehrgan and Mohseni, 2013) and aggravate the psychological problems of society (Mohammadzadeh et al., 2014). One of the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been to reduce poverty in the country. In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the issue of poverty alleviation in the country is mentioned in principles 3, 21, 29, 30 and 43. In this regard, after the Islamic Revolution and especially after the war, several high-level documents including six development programs were promulgated. Also, several structures such as the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, etc., were created to help alleviate poverty in the country.The Research Center of the Islamic Council has stated in a report that the poverty line rate has been increasing since 2011 and has reached from 19.4% to 30/4% in 2021. (Kaviani et al., 2023) The Ministry of Labor, Cooperative and Social Welfare has announced in a report that with the sharp growth of the poverty line, the poverty rate has reached 31% in 2020 from 19% in 2017, that is, in 2021, 30% of the total. A country with 25 million and 560 thousand people are below the poverty line. (Mousavi Nik and others, 2022). The current situation and the presented statistics of absolute poverty in the country, despite the efforts made in various fields, indicate a fundamental weakness in poverty alleviation governance.In this research, livelihood or economic poverty, which means that some citizens do not have sufficient benefit from the basic needs of human life, such as food, clothing, health, housing, etc., has been examined from the perspective of governance and management. The final goal of this research is the conceptual processing of policies, strategies and programs that policymakers and executives can use to fight the problem of poverty.Materials and Methods To answer the question of this research, a qualitative research design has been used. The obtained results are a review of published articles and documents and semi-structured interviews about policies, strategies and poverty alleviation programs in Iran, which qualitative content analysis method was used for the data.Discussion and Results Livelihood poverty is a fundamental problem that has forced rulers and policymakers in Iran to try to reduce it. In this regard, despite the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and of course the very positive actions that have taken place after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, poverty is still considered one of the most important issues in Iran. In other words, the evaluations show that; The set of existing policies, strategies and programs under which several government and public organizations operate to do it, have not been effective and efficient. Therefore, the final goal of this research was to analyze effective policies, strategies and programs to eliminate poverty in Iran. The findings of this research show that in order to win over poverty in the country, we need three policies of regulation, facilitation (support) and promotion, which include 6 strategies and 21 executive and operational programs. The findings of this research provide a new scientific typology of policies, strategies and programs to the poverty alleviation literature in the country. On the other hand, it provides a framework for practical guidance for managers and executives to understand the various contexts affecting poverty.Finally, in short, it should be said that in order to eliminate poverty in Iran, the three policies of monitoring, support and promotion should be considered simultaneously and along with the relevant strategies and programs.
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