An Analysis of the Performance of the “Ordou-ye Omran-e Melli” (National Development Camps) in the Villages of Fars Based on Documents (1353–1357 SH / 1974–1978 AD)

Authors

1 PhD student in the history of Iran after Islam, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

3 associate professor, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22111/jhr.2026.55338.3898

Abstract

In the 1350s SH (1970s), concurrent with the expansion of modernization policies and the emphasis of the Pahlavi II state on rural development, the National Development Camps program was established. These camps, which formed part of the state’s policy of the guided utilization of youth leisure time, were designed to engage university and vocational students in rural construction and development while facilitating the process of social and economic modernization. Among the regions targeted by this program were the villages of Fars Province.

Using a historical-analytical method and drawing on archival documents and records, the present study seeks to answer the question of how the activities of the National Development Camps in rural Fars were designed and why technical and construction-related activities became the most prominent indicator of the Pahlavi II state’s intervention in the rural development process of this region. The findings show that the activities of the National Development Camps in the villages of Fars were concentrated in the areas of literacy education, agriculture and animal husbandry, health services, and technical and construction affairs. Nevertheless, the prominence of technical and construction measures—particularly in the provision of drinking water and public sanitation, the expansion of educational spaces, road construction and communication infrastructure, and the organization of public spaces and collective services—was less the result of educational or cultural priorities than a reflection of the Pahlavi II state’s focus on compensating for infrastructural deficiencies and on visibly demonstrating its modernization project in rural spaces through

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 May 2026
  • Revise Date: 01 November 2026
  • Accept Date: 01 November 2026

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