Empowering Rural Settlements with an Emphasis on Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Kalashi District in Javanrud County

Rural settlements have always faced various challenges and one of the most important approaches to these challenges is empowerment with sustainable development approach; Because neglecting to enhance its capacities and empowerment exacerbates villages' instability. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the capacities and restrictions on the empowerment of rural settlements, emphasizing sustainable development in Javanrud region and then presenting a strategy. The research method is descriptive-analytical and based on the collection of survey data. The statistical population of the research is comprised of 25 villages in Kalashi district. From the targeted sampling method, the villages of the top 20 households were first selected for a population threshold to receive services and then 6 villages were selected according to the distance from the city center. The sample size was calculated in these 6 villages. The research tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts and reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of more than 0.70. The analysis method is based on the SWOT model and the QSPM matrix. The result showed that rural participation in any environmental risks of 0.19 weight as the most important strength; Stagnate agricultural activities and inappropriate exploitation of water and agricultural land (0.24) as the most important weakness; The commercialization of Samagh Van cultivation in employment (0.26) was recognized as the most important opportunity and emergence of environmental crises (drought, etc.) with the final rating of 0.24 as the most important threat to empowering rural settlements in the region. Also, according to the QSPM matrix, the most important strategy for empowering rural settlements, including the necessary grounds for villagers to participate in commercialization and Samagh Van development of van with a score of 0.50 and supporting people's participation in the development of Samagh Van conversion activities with 0.44 has been.