MAIN DIRECTIONS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THEIR RESIDENTS

The article analyzes the main directions of socio-­economic development of territorial communities from the point of view of their inhabitants. Conducting a sociological survey, determining the opinion of community residents on the problems and prospects of sustainable rural development, taking into account the influence of demographic, gender and socio-economic factors, is a modern method of public involvement in strategic planning, increasing initiative and improving dialogue between government and community. Based on the analysis of the data obtained from the sociological survey of the residents of the territorial community, it was found that the biggest problems that concern the residents are economic: high unemployment, low income. In second place were problems related to underdevelopment and unsatisfactory condition of infrastructure. In third place, respondents put the lack of conditions for self-realization and lack of activity and entrepreneurship of residents. Issues of the social plan (education, health care, trade and consumer services) have receded into the background. The assessment of the main resource of community development is dominated by factors related to exogenous factors — the availability of natural resources, progressive government, and only one in nine believes that the entrepreneurship of residents. When developing a strategy for socio-­economic development of the community, the majority of respondents prefer projects of an economic nature over projects of socio-cultural orientation. Despite the fact that the majority of residents are pessimistic about the prospects of community development projects, the vast majority are ready to take personal part in the implementation of community development tasks. The most important areas of which are the development of the business environment, support for small and medium-­sized businesses.