SUMMARY
The purpose of the research is to study problems of rural development management, to analyse the effectiveness of management of the resource potential of rural areas, and to study the socio-economic priorities of their development, as well as to determine the justified ways of their solution in modern conditions. Methodology. The system approach to studying the development of rural areas makes it possible to consider components in the relationship between themselves and interaction with components of other systems. The state, problems, and prospects of rural development management are considered. The necessity of significant changes in the state policy of rural management is determined. It is substantiated that the current trends in the development of rural areas of Ukraine take place in the direction of narrowing the sphere of application of labour and the mismatch of professional and skilled workers’ quality to the needs of employers, and the growth of unemployment. The results showed that the revival of rural areas depends primarily on the level of economic development of the country. Multifunctional development of the village should be carried out taking into account the integrated approach to solving the problems of the agrarian complex, villages, rural areas in general, through the combination of interests of inhabitants of rural areas, rural communities, local government, and the state, applying social and economic levers of regulation of the relevant relations in conjunction with the organizational and legal ones. The subject of the research is the mechanisms for managing the development of rural areas. The emphasis is made on the imperfection of the modern mechanism of the financial and economic provision of rural development management, in particular, regarding the distribution of state budget funds in this area. The impact of a clear state policy that is aimed at supporting regional development is outlined. The importance of the issue of transferring significant powers and resources to places is investigated; there must be an active position and mutual responsibility of local self-government, local business, and civil society for the development of their territory. The main problem is outlined that the financial situation of rural residents in terms of the unstable development of all spheres of the country’s economy is more complicated than that of the urban population. It is emphasized that the current state of social and economic infrastructure of rural areas confirms the existence of a deep crisis. Taking into account the condition and problems of rural development and modern European traditions in this area, it is proposed to finance the management of rural development using three sources – the state budget, local budget, and rural development funds. Potential sources of the formation of local budget funds, which will be directed to ensuring issues of management of rural development and rural development funds, are determined. Specific directions for the use of funds of each of the mentioned sources are proposed. It is determined that for Ukraine, it is important to study foreign skills of formation of sustainable development of rural areas, analyse their regularities and trends of development. It is proved that the experience of countries of the European Union in the context of European integration should become especially useful for the national economy. Practical implementation. The emphasis is made on the fact that state regulation is the main direction of ensuring sustainable development of the Ukrainian village and a means of ensuring the equilibrium of the Ukrainian economy. Originality. It is outlined that one of the directions of the rural development strategy may be to strengthen initiatives of local entrepreneurs, which will be assisted by local partnerships and the state. The urgent task of further scientific development of this problem is to study the influence of the basic, district, and regional levels of state policy on the management of rural development.