Evaluating the Impact of Good Governance on Reducing Vulnerability of the spread Covid-19 in Sistan’s Border Villages_ Iran

With the spread of the corona virus to the villages, the rural areas of Iran due to demographic characteristics (larger share of the elderly population) and geographical characteristics (longer distance to access to health care centers), along with the lack of health facilities in response to the epidemic ccrona was more involved in this virus and disrupted the life of rural communities. Rural governance involves the implementation of decisions and policies aimed at rural development, ensuring they align with the interests of rural communities while remaining compatible with national, regional, and local priorities. It is widely recognized as a critical factor in the success of rural communities and their ability to manage rural hazards. One of the most significant challenges that rural residents have faced in recent years has been the outbreak of the infectious disease (COVID-19). This study evaluates the impact of good governance on reducing the vulnerability to COVID-19 in Sistan’s border villages_ Iran. The objective of this research is practical, has a descriptive-analytical nature, and employs a quantitative methodology. Data were collected through both library research and questionnaires. The analysis utilized second-order factor analysis and T-tests, with the cochran formula used to determine the sample size, ultimately selecting 363 households. The resylts indicate that the indices of accountability, consensus, and transparency significantly reduce the vulnerability to COVID-19 in Sistan’s border villages. Specifically, accountability had a beta coefficient of 0.39 at a significance level of 0.001, consensus had a beta coefficient of 0.36, and transparency had a beta coefficient of 0.30, with a significance level of less than 0.05. All three factors directly and significantly contributed to reducing COVID-19 vulnerability in these villages.
 
Extended Abstract
1-Introduction
With the spread of the corona virus to the villages, the rural areas of Iran due to demographic characteristics (larger share of the elderly population) and geographical characteristics (longer distance to access to health care centers), along with the lack of health facilities in response to the epidemic corona virus was more involved in this virus and disrupted the life of rural communities. One of the reasons for the vulnerability of rural communities against this disease is that most villagers lack resources such as clean water, schools, health and treatment centers, and transportation and communication facilities that are easily available in urban areas and the lack of these resources this population is at risk of spreading diseases. In other words, rural areas are much less prepared to deal with the direct and indirect impact of the Covid-19 crisis because the villagers are usually faced with low income, economic opportunities and limited education and lack of health care, and on the other hand, ignorance and lack of efficient crisis management. In the villages, it brought irreparable consequences to these areas. The contagious disease of Covid-19 has left many positive and negative effects on the border villages of Sistan, and according to the economic, social, environmental, infrastructure, geography (climatic sate) conditions are different compared to other villages in Iran. This is because the villages of this region, in addition to Covid-19, face other challenges such as: drought, lack of water, unemployment and increasing migration of villagers, lack of innovation in agriculture, low income of villagers, lack of motivation to live by young people etc are struggling, and the effects of this virus, in addition to leading to economic, socio-cultural, environmental instability etc of villages, intensify the crises raised. Therefore, good rural governance is very important, because by guiding and planning the rural community against such structural-functional crises, they can reduce vulnerability or increase the process of vulnerability with their improper functioning. Therefore, considering the importance of this issue, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of good governance on reducing the vulnerability of the spread of corona virus in the border villages of Sistan.
 
2-Materials and Methods
This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. The method of data collection to answer the research questions was library and questionnaire. The tools used in the survey method were questionnaires and face validity was used to determine the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Also, a wide range of indicators were determined to investigate the effects of good governance on reducing vulnerability to the spread of corona virus in the border villages of Sistan. Factor analysis and T-test were used to analyze the data.
 
3- Results and Discussion
Based on the results, the indicators of responsiveness, consensus and transparency had a significant effect on reducing the vulnerability of the outbreak of Covid-19 in the border villages of Sistan. The greatest effect in this field was for the responsiveness component with a beta coefficient of 0.39 at a significance level of 0.001. After that, the consensus component (P = 0.001, β = 0.36) and the transparency component with a beta coefficient of 0.30 and a significance level of 0.003 had a direct and significant effect on reducing the vulnerability of the spread of Covid-19 in the border villages of Sistan. Also, the components of responsibility (P = 0.121, β = 0.16) and rule of law (P = 0.272, β = 0.11) had no significant effect at the 95% confidence level. Therefore, based on the results, it can be concluded that good governance has positive and tremendous effects on reducing the vulnerability of the spread of Covid-19 in the border villages of Sistan and things like the increasing role of indicators of continuous description of programs, cooperation and interaction, and the alignment of countermeasures. With covid-19, it is more tangible to reduce its vulnerability in the studied villages in order to reach a collective agreement (called ej3) and the villagers' free access to covid information.
 
4- Conclusion
Based on the field studies, when the headquarters of the fight against the corona disease announced that people should follow the health tips and instructions, almost 95% of the people followed them. They have confidence in building the country. Of course, in this regard, the education and promotion of the culture of participation to deal with Covid-19 has been strengthened by government and people's institutions, as well as the councils of villages and village councils have also benefited from the advice of villagers to deal with economic and social harms and the like. Furthermore, the transparency of officials and government institutions regarding their performance in relation to the upcoming corona crises led to building trust between people and officials. Many local residents believed that before the spread of corona virus, their level of trust towards the rural elites and government officials was low, but due to the fairness in the distribution of rural facilities and services in the fight against Covid-19 by the officials, the local residents Their trust in government institutions has increased.