The article examines the essence of the concept of sustainable development, developed at the initiative of the UN. This concept has not lost its popularity over the past decades. Sustainable development of relatively rural communities has a number of features. Rural residents are more conservative, so they are slower to adapt to new socio-economic conditions, which requires consideration when developing state and regional policies. The article presents some problems characteristic of rural communities in Belarus. According to the author, for the transition of rural communities to sustainable development, it is important to introduce the practice of developing local sustainable development strategies.