Identification of the informal lending funds and their effectiveness in the empowerment of rural women (A case study: Tang Syab rural district- Kuhdasht city)

  Following the success of the microcredit system in some rural areas in the world, Micro-credit schemes of funds for rural women in Iran was formed, one of the most common loans of them is interest-free loan funds. Due to the problems in the mentioned funds, In recent years a new species from Iran have been formed in rural areas based on informal networks and links that are different from conventional models. The purpose of this study was to identify informal lending funds and understand their effectiveness in the empowerment rural women in a Kuhdasht city with the qualitative approach and using interview and participant observation. Through this study, three types of interest-free loan funds were informal loan fund belonging to students, family relationships, neighborhood-based funds, and funds around administrative and job relations. The results show that the loan funds informal and join them, can Lead to increase income and household savings and the share of women in the family, enhance decision-making power of women in the family and in the village, improve public opinion towards women, teamwork maintenance and continuing and to expand its lead in other issues. Hence, these funds are affected in the empowerment of rural women.