Challenges and Strategies of Rural Community Towards Sustainable Development

Abstract

Disparities between rural and urban areas continue to face the dilemma of spatial inequality in social and economic development. Sustainable development plays a major role in rural areas since it can improve their quality of life through socio-economic development whilst preserving the environment. This study is conducted to explore the knowledge and attitudes of rural communities towards sustainable development and to determine the challenges and strategies of rural communities on sustainable development. A mixed-method research approach was adopted from 131 respondents from the rural communities supported by interviews with three (3) experts in environmental and sustainability in Malaysia. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and content analysis. The respondents perceived themselves as having a good level of knowledge and attitudes towards sustainable development, however the experts opined the opposite views. Lack of infrastructure becomes the main challenges for the rural communities in achieving sustainable development and by improving basic utilities and communication services can help the rural communities to have a better lifestyle and sustainable life which are echoed by the experts. This study is significant to improve lifestyle of the rural communities and contribute to the sustainable development of the country.

Full text

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Jurnal Kejuruteraan 36(5) 2024: 2239–2249
https://doi.org/10.17576/jkukm-2024-36(5)-40
Challenges and Strategies of Rural Community Towards
Sustainable Development
Afza Razan Salleha, Nur Kamaliah Mustaffaa*, Che Maznah Mat Isab &Azizul Salfaizal Azizc
aSchool of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, 40450 Selangor, Malaysia
bCivil Engineering Studies, College of Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi MARA Pulau Pinang Branch, Permatang Pauh Campus,
13500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
cYayasan Telekom Malaysia, Level 6, TM Annexe 2,
Jalan Pantai Jaya, Wilayah Persekutuan,
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: nurkamaliah@uitm.edu.my
Received 29 February 2024, Received in revised form 11 June 2024
Accepted 11 July 2024, Available online 30 September 2024
ABSTRACT
Disparities between rural and urban areas continue to face the dilemma of spatial inequality in social and
economic development. Sustainable development plays a major role in rural areas since it can improve their quality of
life through socio-economic development whilst preserving the environment. This study is conducted to explore the
knowledge and attitudes of rural communities towards sustainable development and to determine the challenges and
strategies of rural communities on sustainable development. A mixed-method research approach was adopted from
131 respondents from the rural communities supported by interviews with three (3) experts in environmental and
sustainability in Malaysia. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and
content analysis. The respondents perceived themselves as having a good level of knowledge and attitudes towards
sustainable development, however the experts opined the opposite views. Lack of infrastructure becomes the main
challenges for the rural communities in achieving sustainable development and by improving basic utilities and
communication services can help the rural communities to have a better lifestyle and sustainable life which are
echoed by the experts. This study is significant to improve lifestyle of the rural communities and contribute to the
sustainable development of the country.
Keywords: Rural community; Sustainable development; Sustainability; Environment
INTRODUCTION
Realizing that a development must be carried out in a way
that meets present needs while safeguarding the ability of
future generations to satisfy their own needs is known as
sustainable development (Edirin 2018). It takes a
comprehensive eort from society to embark on sustainable
development. The focus on sustainability often includes
not only carbon emissions, energy use, and waste
management, but also the role of communities in addressing
socio-economic growth. According to Baharuddin et al.
(2021), rural development is a planned process that use
any form of action or communication to change the
environment, practices, institutions, and mindset of the
rural population in order to end poverty and improve quality
of life. Bakar et al. (2016) emphasize that a sustainable
process of economy, social, cultural, and environmental is
continuously change that aimed for a better long-term
well-being of the community.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global
agenda that calls to action, seek to end poverty, protect the
environment and climate, and ensure that everyone may
live in peace and prosperity. Rural areas in developing

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countries are characterized by a strong reliance on
agriculture and natural resources, a high prevalence of
poverty, marginalization, and policymakers’ neglect, as
well as lower levels of human development (Basuki, 2015).
In contrast to urban areas, which gain from proximity to
consumers and producers, rural communities may only
have a comparative advantage over urban areas in primary
activities based on immobile natural resources and
connected activity (Bawazir 2020). Nevertheless, despite
these benefits, Malaysia’s rural areas continue to be
underdeveloped for a variety of reasons, including a lack
of sustainability, poor communication, low productivity,
and a lack of social integration. According to Malaysia
Voluntary National Review (2021), one of the Malaysia’s
national development goals is “fair growth,” that can be
used to achieve the regional development policy on
regional growth imbalance. Thus, education and the
diffusion of knowledge are essential for achieving
sustainability. Despite the importance of public awareness
on the signicance of sustainable development, the level
of low awareness among citizens has become a major
concern in many countries. Akinlolu et al. (2017)
established that public awareness of the SDGs in the
developing country has not seen any much improvement
meaning that measures to promote sustainability is
required. Therefore, this study is undertaken to
achieve three (3) objectives as follows: 1) to
determine the knowledge and attitudes of rural
communities towards to determine sustainable
development and 2) to determine the challenges and 3)
strategies towards rural empowerment and
sustainable development. The following is the structure
of the paper: the first section provides a literature review
of the previous study on rural empowerment and
sustainable development. The methodology and data
collection are discussed in a subsequent section. The
conclusion follows a discussion on the challenges and
potential solutions for successfully achieving sustainable
development.
LITERATURE REVIEW
CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION OF RURAL EMPOWERMENT
IN MALAYSIA
Since the last 50 years, rural empowerment and sustainable
development policies were introduced and implemented
by various international agencies and national
governments and briefly discussed as follows:
1. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A unifying framework for peace and prosperity for
people and the planet, both now and in the future, is
provided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which was accepted by all United Nations
Member States in 2015 (Delendi 2017). The 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an
urgent call to action for all nations—developed and
developing—in a global partnership, are at the centre
of it (Edward et al. 2022).
2. Twelfth Malaysia Plan (2021-2025)
The Twelfth Plan’s successful execution will increase
inclusivity, foster shared prosperity, and pave the path
for a more sustainable Malaysia for next generations.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda)
will continue to be in line with the Twelfth Plan’s
national development priorities (Islam et al. 2017).
3. Dasar Perancangan Fizikal (DPF) Desa Negara 2030
The vision of “Prosperous Rural, Prosperous Nation”
inspired the formulation of the DPF Desa Negara 2030,
a crucial plan for guiding development initiatives
towards the prosperity of rural communities (Dasar
Perancangan Fizikal Desa Negara 2016). According to
this perspective, Malaysia’s rural areas should be given
the most weight when making decisions on the regional
planning. It is focused on achieving its goal of “liveable
and resilient rural” (Kapur 2019).
4. Dasar Pembangunan Luar Bandar (DPLB) 2030
To improve Malaysia’s rural areas by the year 2030,
DPLB emphasizes the goal of “A Prosperous, Inclusive,
Sustainable and Holistic Rural” as the key agenda. This
vision emphasizes the guarantee of equitable access to
infrastructure and social services for both urban and
rural communities (Dasar Pembangunan Luar Bandar,
2019). Most importantly, rural regions are planned to
provide employment and business opportunities that
can raise the income of the rural community and entice
people who have moved away to settle there again. This
objective supports the DPF Desa Negara 2030. Manggat
et al. (2018) also emphasises the necessity of empowering
rural products like agrotourism and other tourism-based
projects to increase rural peoples’ income.
5. Wawasan Kemakmuran Bersama (WKB) 2030
The Shared Prosperity Vision’s enablers emphasize
building social capital, outcome-based education, and
awareness to create an educated society that realizes
social cohesion and unity in diversity (Klarin 2018).

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The goals and objectives under the Shared Prosperity
Vision are precise and quantifiable. Towards the
community’s advantage, the measurement will also
consider the distribution of national wealth, a growth
in purchasing power, and an improvement in well-being.
CHALLENGES TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL RURAL
EMPOWERMENT AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING
There are many obstacles to overcome in order to empower
rural communities and encourage sustainable living,
including social, economic, environmental, and
infrastructure related as outlined in Table 1.
TABLE 1. Challenges Towards Successful Rural Empowerment and Sustainable Living
Key Factors Description Sources
Lack of
Education
Due to a variety of issues, including a lack of qualied and dedicated
teachers, a lack of textbooks or teaching-learning materials, among
others, communities in rural areas continue to get a poor level of
education.
Poverty Lack of the means to maintain a specic level of living constitutes
poverty as a state or condition.
Numerous social, economic, and political factors and outcomes can
contribute to poverty.
Social Economy
Aspect
The idea of a social economy has been pushed as a solution to the
growing scarcity of resources and as a means of accelerating the shift to
a more sustainable economic structure.
Social economy aspect oers several goals for achieving sustainable
development as well as strategies for generating value for stakeholders
such as societies
Lack of
Infrastructure
The opportunity for people to enhance and maintain their social and
economic well-being is constrained by a lack of infrastructure.
There is a link between enhancing infrastructure and reducing poverty.
Climate change
and its potential
to agriculture
Agriculture is a bio-industry depending on climate that exhibits
distinctive geographical characteristics.
Both local and regional agriculture may be impacted by climate change.
(Edward et al. 2022), (Mabeba
& Mmila 2020), (Kapur 2018)
(Manaf & Ibrahim 2017),
(Sagaran & Nair 2017)
(Kapur 2019), (Islam et al.
2017)
(Manggat et al. 2018), (Dali &
Caidi, 2023)
(Mia et al. 2022), (Zhang et al
2022)
STRATEGIES TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL RURAL
EMPOWERMENT AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Promoting sustainable living and empowering
rural communities requires a multidimensional
strategy that
takes into account dierent facets of social, economic, and
environmental development. The following are some
strategies to promote sustainable living and better rural
empowerment:
TABLE 2 Strategies Towards Successful Rural Empowerment and Sustainable Living
Key Factors Description Sources
Improving provision
for quality education
and skills training
Education and training providers and practitioners in many
developing and developed nations share the goal of raising the
quality of education and training.
Multi sector approach
to end poverty
A framework that empowers communities to take part in
decisions that impact their lives is the approach to community
empowerment.
Innovation of society
for socio economy
In this context, innovation is essential because it promotes the
implementation of knowledge and research into better practices
that aid in nding answers to new issues and enhance the
provision of healthcare services.
Improving basic
amenities and
infrastructure
Infrastructure, amenity, and facility upgrades have been found to
be extremely advantageous to the people.
Conservation of the
ecosystem
Ways to safeguarding earth resources.
Conservation of ecosystems considers entire species’ populations
and their interactions with the physical environment.
(Nazuri et al. 2022),
(Twelfth Malaysia Plan
2021)
(Manggat et al. 2018)
(Mabeba & Mmila 2020)
(Rami et al. 2018),
(Mabeba & Mmila 2020)
(Delendi 2017),
(Kapur 2019)
(Muhammad & Kabir
2016),
(Mohd et al. 2018)

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH PROCESS
FIGURE 1. Research Methodology Flowchart
As shown in Figure 1, this mixed-method involved
both quantitative and qualitative approaches that inlcudes
problem identification and objective establishment,
literature review, data collection, data analysis, interpretation
of the results, discussion, conclusion and recommendation.
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
The survey questionnaire for this study was divided into
ve (5) sections: A, B, C, D, and E. The questionnaire was
designed using both multiple choice and Likert scale
ratings. It is essential to determine the respondents’
knowledge and understanding of a specic study through
the dissemination of questionnaires. All ve (5) sections
prepared in the questionnaire are shown below;
1. Section A: General information about the respondents
includes their gender, age, employment status,
monthly household income, etc.
2. Section B: The responses to this question reveal the
respondent’s level of knowledge and attitudes of rural
communities towards sustainable development.
3. Section C: The responses to this question reveal the
respondents’ challenges living among rural
communities towards achieving sustainable
development. A Likert scale score between 1 and 5
was provided to describe the most accurately
challenges that respondents have observed towards
sustainable living.
4.Section D: The responses to this question reveal the
respondents’ opinion on the proposed strategies in
order to improve rural communities’ knowledge and
attitudes towards successful rural empowerment and
sustainable development. A Likert scale score
between 1 and 5 was provided to describe the most
accurately strategies that respondents have observed
when implementing sustainable development.
5. Sections E: The responses to this question reveal the
respondent’s opinion of what strategies need to be
implemented to achieve sustainable development.

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Respondents were chosen by a non-probability
sampling approach. A total of 131 participants in the survey
were drawn from rural communities all over Malaysia.
Using Google Forms link, the survey has been widely
disseminated via emails and social media. A total sample
of 384 was selected by using Krejcie and Morgan sampling
procedure (Krejcie & Morgan 1970). The sample size for
this study was deemed adequate compared to other studies
that employed identical purposive sampling approaches
(Coviello & Jones 2004).
TABLE 3. Demographic Profile of Respondents
Respondent’s characteristics No. of respondents
(total = 131)
Percentage (%)
Age 18-24 27 20.6
25-34 39 29.8
35-44 43 32.8
45-54 11 8.4
55-64 4 3.1
65 and above 7 5.3
Gender Male 76 58
Female 55 42
INTERVIEW WITH EXPERTS
As part of an explanatory sequential design, semi-
structured interviews are used to supplement and explain
quantitative data obtained from cross-sectional survey
questionnaires. The rationale for this explanatory process
is that quantitative measures and outcomes provide a
comprehensive insight into the topic, permitting for a more
thorough examination. In this study, interviews with three
(3) experts in the eld of environmental and sustainability
were carried out.
DATA ANALYSIS
SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), a
statistical software-based program was used to analyse the
data for this study. The percentage frequency distribution,
mean, standard deviation and reliability test were used to
analyse the quantitative results from the cross-sectional
survey.
RELIABILITY TEST
The reliability analysis approach generates a number of
widely used scale reliability measures and offers
information on the item correlations of the scale. The
reliability test is widely used when a questionnaire has
multiple Likert scale questions and the researcher wishes
to determine whether the scale is reliable (Young 2015).
Utilizing Cronbach’s Alpha was necessary for reliability
analysis to demonstrate the appropriateness of tests and
scales created for use in research projects (Young 2015).
In this study, the Cronbach’s Alpha value for each variable
was α = 0.968 for 10 variable items, falling within the range
of α ≥ 0.9, which Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) indicate
as excellent internal consistency.
CONTENT ANALYSIS
In this study, interviews with three (3) experts in the eld
of environmental and sustainability, were analysed using
the content analysis technique. This interview used a
qualitative data content analysis since it is an ecient
method of data analysis for the interviews, given that the
research consists of verbal interactions. A traditional
content analysis was performed in this study. The basic
theme was created based on the collected data. This entailed
an exploratory approach involving the arrangement of the
codes until a collection of themes represented the
fundamental concepts. The respondents’ responses were
analysed by converting raw narrative data (notes,
audiotapes) to semi-processed data (transcripts) and then
manually transcribing it.
The following section presents the results and
discussion based on a quantitative method using survey
questionnaires administered to 131 rural communities
followed by a qualitative method using interviews with
three (3) experts in sustainable development in Malaysia.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The rst part comprises the data gathering on participants’
feedback through a survey questionnaire based on three

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(3) parts: (1) level of awareness and attitude of rural
communities towards sustainable development, (2) key
challenges faced by the rural communities towards
sustainable development and (3) strategies to improve rural
communities’ knowledge and attitudes towards successful
rural empowerment and sustainable development.
Percentage frequency distributions were applied to analyse
the data from survey.
Level of Awareness and Attitudes of Rural Communities Towards Sustainable Development
FIGURE 2. Level of Respondents Agreement on the Definition of Sustainable Environment
Figure 2 shows that 47 (35.9%) out of 131 respondents
strongly agree with the statement that a sustainable
environment is the ability to maintain ecological balance
and conserve natural resources to support the well-being
of current and future young generations. 44 respondents
agree (33.6%), 36 respondents moderately agree (27.5%),
and 2 respondents (1.5%) vote for not agree and strongly
disagree, respectively. Hence, we can conclude that the
majority of the respondents have knowledge and awareness
of sustainable environment.
FIGURE 3. Sustainable Environment Activities Voted by the Respondents

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From Figure 3, it can be seen that the majority of the
respondents are aware of the activities related to sustainable
environment. Only a small number of respondents were
unaware of sustainable environmental activities and chose
options such as open burning, disposing of trash at will, or
increasing the use of plastic, with each option selected by
1 respondent (0.8%).
KEY CHALLENGES ON RURAL COMMUNITIES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TABLE 4. Descriptive Analysis of the Key Challenges on rural communities towards sustainable development
Items Mean Standard
deviation
Rank
Lack of education
C1a. Not much of an awareness programmed directed towards rural communities,
hence their understanding and practices of sustainable living are limited
4.00 0.956 7
C1b. Teacher shortages can contribute to the education gap and lack of knowledge
in rural areas
4.06 0.926 4
Rural Poverty
C2a. The work they do mostly not commercialized but rather for their own use
and limits their awareness of the importance of a sustainable development
3.87 0.956 9
C2b. Children from low-income families are more likely to experience poor
nutrition which contributes to their health, behavioural and their knowledge level
4.01 0.981 6
Lack of Socio Development
C3a. Lack of rural community involvement in decision-making result to lack of
awareness and exposure towards sustainable development
3.87 0.995 8
C3b. From a sociological aspect, rural communities only socialize with the people
around them causing less development of knowledge about the outside world
3.73 1.029 10
Lack of Infrastructure
C4a. Lack of infrastructure results in dicult access to water, electricity, roads
and reliable transportation
4.24 0.867 1
C4b. Lack of infrastructure hinders economic development increases
unemployment and promotes poor living standards
4.16 0.901 2
Climate change and its potential to agriculture
C5a. Climate changes can reduce the availability of local natural resources 4.06 0.886 5
C5b. Climate change can exacerbate erosion, organic matter depletion, loss of soil
biodiversity, landslides, desertication and ooding
4.07 0.887 3
Table 4 indicates the descriptive analysis based on the
ve (5) key challenges towards sustainable development
namely; lack of education, poverty, social economy, lack
of infrastructure and climate change and its potential for
agriculture. Based on the ndings, it was shown that the
majority of the respondents were concerned about the lack
of infrastructure results especially diculties in accessing
water, electricity, roads and reliable transportation and
additional costs during use such as the cost of installation,
repair, and maintenance, with the greatest mean score of
4.24 (SD = 0.867) and making item C4a the rst of ranking.
Manggat (2018) highlighted that failure to incorporate
infrastructural development into communities is believed
to aect the community’s state of wellbeing. Moreover,
item C4b, lack of infrastructure hinders economic
development, increases unemployment and promotes poor
living standards comes in second on the rank, with a mean
score of 4.16 (SD = 0.901). Both of these items are under
the issue of lack of infrastructure which reveals that
respondents nd that poor access and inadequate roads
increase transportation costs, diculties in obtaining high-
quality resources, and limit the uses of local markets to
sale their goods, the acquisition of consumer goods, and
the creation of opportunities for o-farm employment (Dali
et al. 2022). Thus, these challenges have to be taken into
account and indicates that the integration of governance
through policies and institutional roles needs to be
emphasize in the rural infrastructure planning practice
(Edward et. al. 2022).

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STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE RURAL COMMUNITIES KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL RURAL
EMPOWERMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TABLE 5. Descriptive Analysis of the Strategies That Need to Be Implemented to Improve Rural Communities Knowledge and
Attitudes Towards Successful Rural Empowerment and Sustainable development
Items Mean Standard
deviation Rank
Improving provision for quality education and skills training
S1a. Provide more provision for high quality education to improve the level
of education and awareness on sustainable development among low-income
household members
4.41 0.643 4
S1b. Providing skills training and scholarship facilities for those in need 4.38 0.685 6
Multi sector approach to end poverty
S2a. Stimulate economic growth to increase income and expand employment
opportunities for the poor
4.39 0.719 5
S2b. A multi-sector approach as well as a complementary role by NGOs and the
private sector in helping to reduce rural poverty rates
4.32 0.726 9
Innovation of society for socio economy
S3a. Introduction of something new to economic or social life in rural areas,
which adds new economic or social value to rural life
4.31 0.755 10
S3b. Held more program to help people in recovery gain and sustain employment 4.38 0.685 7
Improving basic amenities and infrastructure
S4a. Obtain sucient funding through domestic sources, foreign investment, and
international aid
4.41 0.689 3
S4b. Basic utilities and communication services such as treated water, electricity
and broadband connectivity should be enhanced, particularly in remoted areas
4.43 0.668 1
Conservation of the ecosystem
S5a. Prioritizing the most isolated and marginalized people. With secure access to
land and aordable nance, small-scale producers can invest in their future and
escape poverty
4.36 0.765 8
S5b. Provide suitable areas in the agricultural sector with technological equipment
facilities
4.43 0.681 2
The descriptive study focuses on the ve (5) main
strategies needed to be implemented to improve rural
communities’ knowledge and attitudes towards successful
rural empowerment and sustainable development as
displayed in Table 5 which are; (1) improvement in
provision for quality education and skills training, (2) multi
sector approach to end poverty, (3) innovation of society
for socio economy, (4) improving basic amenities and
infrastructure and (5) conservation of the ecosystem,
Responding to the data, the majority of respondents agreed
on the strategy S4b, to improve basic utilities and
communication services with the highest mean score of
4.43 (SD=0.668) followed by S5b, providing suitable areas
in the agricultural sector with technological equipment
facilities with the second highest mean score of 4.43 (SD
= 0.681). Technologies oer greater opportunities for
organizations to realize the concept of sustainable
development (Bawazir 2006). This nding was consistent
with prior research, which found that having alternative
energy sources, like solar power, is essential instead of
overly depending on hydroelectricity and goods made from
petroleum (Molinoari et al. 2019).
The second part of the discussion presents the content
analysis on the opinions of the experts based on three (3)
specific themes aligned to the survey questionnaires,
namely the rural communities’ knowledge and attitudes,
the challenges they faced, and strategies used to improve
the rural community.

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TABLE 6. List of Interviewees’ Opinion on Challenges and Strategies of Rural Community on Sustainable Development
Challenges Strategies
Diculty to implement sustainability events
Dicult to change rural community lifestyle
Language and communication barriers
Low level of understanding and awareness on
sustainability
Lack of infrastructure and services
Cost barrier to implement the sustainability
lifestyle
Community engagement and participation
Government and local authorities need to held more programme
related to sustainability and conduct Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
Education and engage on capacity building design for rural
community
Empowering social media platform to promote sustainability
Require more rural empowerment programme from government
and private sector
More budget must be allocated for rural empowerment and
community development to improve infrastructure and network
services at rural areas
Overall, on knowledge and attitudes of rural
community, all interviewees agreed that rural community
still not fully aware on the “sustainability” term while their
level of knowledge and understanding on sustainability is
still low. They stated that only several people from the
community that may have the knowledge about
sustainability. All interviewees think that the rural
community may only have basic knowledge but did not
have awareness to put it into action and difficult to
implement it in long term of period. One of the interviewees
stated that one of the current implementations of rural
communities towards sustainable development in Malaysia
is by doing community engagement and education. The
level of awareness and knowledge of the sustainable
development goals in Nigeria as found to be fair (Akinlolu
2017). However, a study by Kamarudin et al. (2018)
shows that the level of environmental awareness and
knowledge of Malaysian university students is high.
However, the level of practice was moderate. Thus,
nowadays numerous awareness-raising and educational
initiatives must be carried out to help rural
communities comprehend and embrace sustainable
practices (Mustaffa et al. 2022). The government and
private agencies must create rural empowerment
programs such as workshops, training sessions, and
community outreach initiatives to raise awareness
and educate rural communities on sustainability issues.
In terms of challenges, many programs and activities
can be done but to implement them and keep them
sustainable for a long term of period is tough since some
of the activities are new for them and it may take some
time to adapt with the new things and to change their
lifestyle. Changing the lifestyle of rural communities to
achieve sustainable development involves a multifaceted
approach that respects the community’s unique context and
challenges. For example, rural communities maybe get
used to dispose waste by open burning so it may take some
time to change their lifestyle and to dispose the waste more
sustainably. All the three (3) interviewees agreed that the
level
of understanding and awareness of the rural community is
still low and needs to be educated on the interest and
advantages of implementing sustainability eort. Other
than that, they stated that cost is one of the challenges for
rural communities in order to implement sustainability by
themselves.
In terms of strategies, enhancing rural communities’
understanding and perspectives regarding eective rural
empowerment and sustainable development necessitates a
multidimensional strategy that takes into account dierent
facets of empowerment, education, and awareness. Some
of the strategies that can be implemented including
community engagement and participation, active
involvement from government and private sector and many
more as stated in Table 6.
The interviewees suggest that getting involved in rural
communities’ activities indirectly can educate them on
sustainability. Government, local authorities and the
communities itself play an important role in making the
strategy successful such as doing more sustainability
activities and by conducting Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) programs more frequently in rural areas. Other than
that, engaging locals in the decision-making process when
it comes to sustainable projects and initiatives is guaranteed
to align with their needs and values. Furthermore, it is also
suggested to empower the usage of social media platforms
as a tool to promote a rural community and promote a
sustainable lifestyle. Coordinated implementation of these
strategies can improve attitudes and knowledge regarding
successful rural empowerment and sustainable development,
with positive results for both rural communities and the
socio-economic.
CONCLUSION
In an attempt to bridge the information gap, this study
explores the knowledge and attitudes of rural communities
towards sustainable environment, the challenges faced and

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finally determines the strategies and success factors
towards rural community and sustainable environment.
This mixed method study was carried out using survey
questionnaires responded by 131 rural participants and
interviews with three (3) experts on environmental and
sustainability. The consolidation of the ndings indicates
a growing awareness and commitment to sustainable
development, while the challenges to achieving a
sustainable environment remain relatively minimal.
Despite the positive trend in awareness and attitudes
towards sustainable development, certain areas require
further attention and improvement. The main challenges
identied in this study include a lack of education, rural
poverty, insufficient social development, inadequate
infrastructure, and the impact of climate change on
agriculture. To encounter the challenges faced by the rural
communities, the strategies suggested are improving
provision for quality education and skills training, multi
sector approach to end poverty, innovation of society for
socio economy, improving basic amenities and
infrastructure, and conservation of the ecosystem.
Furthermore, the top challenges to better sustainable
practices would be obstacles that prevent the adoption of
sustainable practices to accelerate Malaysia’s sustainable
development. The path to sustainability is paved with
challenges, ranging from limited resources and technological
barriers to strongly rooted cultural norms and gaps in
policy. But it is signicant to see these challenges as the
opportunities for creativity, teamwork, and coordinated
action.
The nding of this research could be benecial in
addressing particular concerns regarding sustainable
development and rural empowerment status in Malaysia.
This study makes a signicant contribution of insight
pertaining to the rural community’s prior knowledge and
strategies in integrating sustainable development, as well
as the key challenges and factors associated to achieve
sustainable development in Malaysia. The research
outcomes could serve as a framework for further discussion
on promoting awareness at all levels to accomplish all 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) This is also
necessary for supporting the government’s aspirations to
become sustainable nation, as highlighted in the Twelfth
Malaysia Plan 2021-2025.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the
Yayasan TM and School of Civil Engineering, College of
Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara Shah Alam for
supporting this publication via research grant 100-TNCPI/
PRI 16/6/2 (105/2022).
DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST
None.
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