The Empowerment Level of Urban and Rural Areas of Bampur County: A Comparative Study

A B S T R A C T
The present article evaluates and compares the level of economic, social and psychological empowerment in urban and rural areas of Bampur county in Sistan and Baluchestan province. The theoretical basis of the research is based on the views of "Alsop and Heinsohn" (structural opportunity), "Naila Kabeer" (power) and "Robert Chambers" (deprivation trap). The statistical population of the research is citizens aged 18 to 45 living in urban and rural areas, and 475 samples were selected according to Cochran's formula. The sampling method is cluster sampling. The research method is survey and through questionnaire. The main findings showed that in urban society, the empowerment of the respondents is at an average to high level, while in the rural society, the empowerment of the respondents is at an average level. The distribution of total empowerment is located between two dimensions of economic empowerment (at a low level) and psychological empowerment (at a high level). The empowerment average of urban respondents (63.1) was about 7 points higher than the average of rural respondents (56.4). The total empowerment and its dimensions (economic, social and psychological) in urban society are significantly higher than in rural society. The most important suggestions of the research include strengthening structural opportunities, providing the possibility of participation and reducing the feeling of deprivation due to the lack of resources to strengthen human capital in different sectors, especially among rural areas and among women.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The issue of empowerment is an undeniable necessity for areas like Sistan and Baluchestan, especially underdeveloped areas of this province like Bampur, with special emphasis on rural areas. The effects of empowerment for this county can be used to solve many problems. Empowerment reduces poverty, reduces the feeling of social deprivation, increases entrepreneurship, and increases the feeling of social welfare, the feeling of social justice, and economic development. The prerequisite for empowerment is knowing the level of empowerment of people in the existing conditions, which has not been studied in Bampur county so far. The main aim of the research is to know the empowerment of the residents of rural and urban areas in Bampur county and compare them. In order to achieve this general aim, first, the empowerment of the residents of rural and urban areas is compared in three economic, psychological, and social dimensions. The theoretical basis of the research is based on the views of "Alsop and Heinsohn" (structural opportunity), "Naila Kabeer" (power), and "Robert Chambers" (deprivation trap).
 
Methodology
The research method is a survey and questionnaire. Experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was also measured using Cronbach's alpha. Cronbach's alpha was higher than 0.7 for all variables. The statistical population of the research is citizens aged 18 to 45 living in Bampur county. Based on Cochran's formula, a sample of 384 people was obtained from the statistical population of 60,557 people. Due to the possibility of the questionnaires not being returned and distorted, and with the aim of a more accurate comparison of urban and rural areas, about 25% was added to the sample size, and the number of questionnaires was increased to 475 samples. The sampling method was cluster sampling, and the questionnaires were completed according to the distribution method between the urban and rural communities.
 
 Results and discussion
About 70% of the urban and about 77% of the rural respondents have low or very low levels of economic empowerment. Most of the villagers have evaluated their level of social empowerment at an average level (42.2%), and most of the urban respondents have evaluated their social empowerment at a high level (about 49%). The level of psychological empowerment of more than 80% of the urban respondents is at a very high level, and it is around 63% for the villagers. In urban society, the empowerment of the respondents tends to be higher, while in rural society, the empowerment of the respondents is more concentrated at the middle level. The distribution of total empowerment is located between two dimensions’ economic empowerment (at a low level) and psychological empowerment (at a high level). There is a significant difference between urban and rural society in terms of empowerment as well as total empowerment.
The level of psychological empowerment of citizens is higher than that of economic and social empowerment. Various factors can cause this, the most important of which should be the variable type. Psychological empowerment is related to people's assessment of themselves in relation to their psychological capacities and is less influenced by economic and social structures. In urban areas, provision of life needs such as rice, meat, and oil are faced with many problems, which is far more inappropriate in rural areas. These factors, along with the weakness of educational and health infrastructures, have caused a negative impact on the economic and social empowerment of citizens. In rural areas, agriculture is not an economic source of income due to the lack of sufficient water. The main production of rural areas of Bampur county is wheat and dates. The lack of data processing at the county level has caused the income of the date product to go to the broker more. Youth unemployment, addiction, and delinquency are part of the consequences of the economic situation of Bampur county, which themselves lead to the deterioration of the economic situation. In fact, unemployment, addiction, and other crimes are in a vicious circle with the economic situation of the region, which has made it difficult to get out of this situation.
 
Conclusion
The structure of opportunities in Bampur county is limited, especially in rural areas. In the psychological dimension, citizens can make decisions and choose to an acceptable extent, but the limited structure of opportunities limits their choices. The limitation of the opportunity structure includes not only formal laws such as bank laws but also social norms and values ​​(the informal aspect of the opportunity structure). For example, concerning the opportunity structure, the villagers' views regarding the duties of girls and their views on girls' education should be mentioned. Despite the desire of girls to continue their education, the limited informal structures limit this possibility and their empowerment. Citizens are caught in the deprivation trap, which is difficult to escape. Guaranteed purchase of dates or the possibility of processing them at the county level to increase the added value of this product, the government's support for rural home businesses, the creation and strengthening of educational and health infrastructures in rural areas, facilitating the process of receiving loans and considering special quotas in the field of employment and education for the citizens of this county are among the solutions that came from the discussions of citizens, and the research findings can be extracted.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Alireza Karimi (design, data analysis, summarization and coordination of various parts of the research), Reza Safari Shali (question statement and conceptual concept), Zubair Dastaev. Background and data collection, discussion and conclusion were jointly reviewed by all three authors.
 
Conflict of Interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.