Identification and Prioritization of Effective Factors on Preventing Participation of Rural Societies in watershed Management Plans Case Study (Niarij Watershed of Qazvin Province)

Peoples’ participation in watershed development projects, in addition to reducing operating costs, can lead to more effective project implementation. Various factors causes the lack of public participation in watershed development projects. The purpose of this study was to identify, classify and prioritize these factors based on local people as well as experts viewpoints in Niarij watershed of Qazvin province. So first, these factors were identified and categorized based on the previous studies, interviews with experts, and residents and stakeholders of the watershed. Then,  pairwise comparisons and likert questionnaires were prepared as a measuring tool and the validity of the questionnaires was confirmed based on the opinions of the experts. In the next step, the sample size was determined by Cochran formula and the questionnaires were completed. Finally, the indicators and sub-indicators which preventing the participation of the people were prioritized using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process and Friedman Test. The results showed that, from the perspective of both groups of experts and peoples, management and economic indicators have a greater role in preventing people participation in relation to social and educational indicators. The results were also indicated some differences in the importance of the sub-indices from the perspective of the two groups. From the expertschr('39') perspective, "lack of full allocation of operating funds on time" and "local and tribal disputes" are the most and least important, respectively. But from the local communities point of view, the sub-indices " lack of stakeholders consultation in the design and development of projects" and "mistrust about the benefits of projects " are ranked as the most and least important, respectively. The overall conclusion is that factors such as stakeholder consultation, decentralization of decision-making from the headquarters, NGOs activities and training of local communities along with the considering the benefits of stakeholders, and multi-purpose projects can provide the basis for local peoples’ trust and will result in participation of people in the watershed development projects.