International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences © 2013 Available online at www.irjabs.com ISSN 2251-838X / Vol, 7 (5): 253-258 Science Explorer Publications Challenges Of Sustainable Rural Development From Perspective Of Villagers Rezvan Ghambarali *1 , Amirhossein Alibaygi 2 , Behrooz Rasekhi 3 , Vida Pezeshki 4 , Shahrzad Ghasemi 5 , Zhaleh Akbari 6 1. Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Razi 2.Associate Prof, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Razi 3. Faculty of Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah, Iran 4. Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Agricultural Extension, Islamic Azad University of Tehran 4. Master of Science, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Razi 5. Bachelor of Science, Department of Agricultural Extension, Islamic Azad University of Ilam, Iran * Corresponding author email: Rezvangh20007@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: In Iran 22.23 million people living in 65000 villages who directly or indirectly depend on agriculture to survive, while most of them are living under poverty line. Still Iranian rural economy is dominated by agricultural sector which accounts for 27% of GDP, 22.9% of employment opportunities, 82% of food supply and 35% of non-oil exports, plus considerable raw materials for industrial use. Despite the importance of rural areas inagricultural sector in Iran, unfortunately, little attention has been paid by policymakers to this matter.Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to find out major challenges of rural areas for achieving sustainable development in Kermanshah Township. The data were collected using survey questionnaires. The statistical population of the study consisted of all heads of rural households in Kermanshah Township (N= 24391). With using a systematic sampling technique, a total of 330 farmers were selected for the survey. Content and face validity were established by a panel of experts. Questionnaire reliability was estimated by calculating Cronbach’s alpha. Reliability of the overall instrument was estimated at 0.82, which indicated that the questionnaire was highly reliable. The results of factor analysis showed that five factors economic, cultural-social, Institutional, environmental and infrastructural have explained 63.85% of challenges to achieving sustainable development in rural areas in Kermanshah Township. Diversification of rural economy, supporting job creation activities, promoting sustainable rural tourism, business and industrial activities, establishing a stable urban-rural network are among important agenda which can create an appropriate condition for sustainable development in Iranian rural communities. Key words: Rural development, Sustainable development, rural development challenges, Villagers INTRODUCTION International donor communities have widely recognized the need for rural development as a means to end hunger, poverty, inequality and unemployment in developing countries. National planners have adopted various plans and policies to promote rural development. Development projects were implemented, but in many cases they were ineffective due to poor implementation and management. Of course, progress has been made to improve the livelihoods of many millions in rural areas butthe rate of progress has not met the expectations of development professionals (Suvedi, 2010). Moreover, some of the changes made by development projects were short-lived. Many project activities could not be continued by the local people after the donors pulled out. Local people did not have the financial and managerial capacity to maintain the development projects in their communities. To put it simply, although well intended, many development programs or projects have not been sustainable (Shakya, 2002). Therefore, sustainability is one of the main issues of rural development programs in developing countries such as Iran. When applied to rural development, “sustainability” is not limited only to continued existence of programs long after their existence; it also means that sustainable rural development can be defined both as a process and as a policy goal. As a process, it defines a movement and a desire for development efforts and programmed to