Institutions Function in Sustainable Rural Development (Analysis of Economic Effects of the Activities of Basij in Villages of southern Khorasan)

Any organization whose customers and clients are the general public needs to assess its plans and actions to develop better policies, improve current methods and plans, and finally achieve better effectiveness and efficiency. The purpose of the research was to identify the effectiveness of the activities of Basij in rural areas of southern Khorasan. Considering research methodology, the research is quantitative, applied, descriptive-analytical, using surveys. In order to collect the data, two questionnaires (for the general public and experts) were distributed among the villages of eight cities of South Khorasan (Birjand, Qaen, Ferdows, Sarayan, Sarbisheh, Nehbandan, Darmiyan, Boshrouyeh). The Sample included 498 and 239 respondents respectively. The results indicated that the level of economic effectiveness of the activities of Basij is above average and statistically significant. Frequency distribution of the views of respondents on economic effectiveness of the activities of Basij in the villages of the province shows that more than 70% of the residents of the villages under study (including experts and the general public) consider the activities to be moderately effective. The difference of the economic effectiveness of activities in the cities studied were statistically significant. The largest and the smallest mean of the economic effectiveness in the counties studied were related to Sarbisheh and Nehbandan respectively. The results of the correlation test indicated a significant relationship between education, the participation of skilled people in projects, the time of conducting activities, and their effectiveness. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of activities, it is recommended that attention be paid to the needs of the villagers, appropriate time for the activities, participation of villagers in projects, and utilization of their skills.