Abstract:
This article tries to analyze the interaction between the implementation of a microfinance project in a rural area and the social and cultural infra structure. About 50 women in a small village in central Iran formed an Association of beekeepers in 2000. The Association was formed based on a developmental intervention with the idea of microfinance as a strategy for poverty alleviation. Because of their initial success the Association attracted national and international donors. Some internal and external tensions, however, led them to split up into five smaller groups in 2010. Using a mixed method this paper attempts to answer these questions: "Why did the Association break up after 10 years?" "What were the socio cultural conditions that made it difficult for these women to continue working as a team? "How did the activities of various stakeholders affect their internal interactions? Observation showed that two basic attributes of age and education of the Association’s members polarized the members into two categories, intensifying the growing mistrust among the members of the Association. Additionally, the diminishing trust among the members was exacerbated by the unintended consequences of the different treatment of the Association’s members by some stakeholders and donors. All that led to the breakup of the Association into five smaller groups.
Machine summary:
"Association of Women Beekeepers: A Multi Stakeholder Approach Soheila Alirezanejad1 ABSTRACT This article tries to analyze the interaction between the implementation of a microfinance project in a rural area and the social and cultural infra structure.
While reviewing different projects of this program, I met members of an Association named "Women Beekeepers of Rameh".
Based on the negotiations with the facilitators the Agricultural Bank of Iran agreed to give an interest free loan to some younger members of the Association.
In sum, the facilitators attracted three different financial resources to the Association which included: 1) A developmental grant from Land and Water Project, 2) An interest free loan from the Agricultural Bank of Iran, and 3) A grant from the Program.
The decision of the Agricultural Bank to deal with these women as individuals rather than an Association followed by their decision to extend the loans only to the younger more educated members further turned the Association into two unequal groups.
The opportunity offered to certain members of the Association turned into a hazard for the group as a whole and as the financial gap increased between the younger members who received the Agricultural Bank’s loan and older members who did not so did the tension.
CONCLUSION As I have been discussing in this paper, the Association of Women Bee Keepers included two categories: younger and educated women, and older and mostly uneducated women who were skilled in traditional craft and had knowledge of local herbal medicine."