Challenges for Developing Social Infrastructure in Rural Areas of Ukraine in the Context of Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Social infrastructure is a key component of the sustainable development of rural areas, as it directly affects the population's quality of life and the level of access to education, healthcare and social services. The article aims to develop and substantiate theoretical and methodological approaches to identifying challenges and managing the development of social infrastructure in rural areas of Ukraine in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The paper focuses on the relationship between the social infrastructure of rural communities and modern challenges, particularly socio-economic transformations, technological changes and global trends in sustainable development, the identification of which will contribute to developing a strategy for the sustainable development of rural areas of Ukraine. The development of rural areas is focused on three key areas of sustainable development, among which, in addition to employment generation, increasing household incomes, creating decent living conditions and ensuring access to goods for the population, a significant part of the indicators concerns the development of social infrastructure in the village. The main components of social infrastructure that ensure the functioning of social services and support population development are analyzed, taking into account the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 3 "Good Health and Well-being" and Goal 4 "Quality Education". The study's results indicate that the implemented reforms to improve the accessibility and quality of medical care have not brought the expected results due to financial difficulties and insufficient resource management. The reduction in the number of paramedical and obstetric stations by more than 40% leads to systemic problems of accessibility of primary rural medicine. Instead, according to general indicators, there is little progress in achieving the SDGs in education. However, despite improved access to technology and inclusive education, rural educational institutions face a lack of funding and a reduction in educational institutions. Solving the identified problems requires developing an effective strategy for sustainable development and sometimes a complete revival of the social infrastructure of rural areas.