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Miani A, Karami Dehkordi M. Qualitative deepening of sustainable livelihoods in rural areas using ATLAS-ti software (Case study: Northern villages of andar District, Ghazni province in Afghanistan). MJSP 2021; 25 (3) :119-145
URL: http://hsmsp.modares.ac.ir/article-21-52744-en.html

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Today one of the biggest planning challenges in human societies, especially rural communities which are the focus of the poor in developing countries, is livelihood (NAZID, 2002). A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (DFID, 1999), but rural livelihoods in developing countries are disproportionately vulnerable to multiple shocks and stresses (Ellis, 2000; Ribot,2009; Scoones, 1998). Afghanistan is a developing country where more than 54.5% or 16 million of the population live below the poverty line (World Bank, 2020). The importance of paying attention to the sustainability of rural livelihoods, which is one of the pillars of achieving sustainable rural development seem necessary. The economy of the settlements in the northern villages of Andar district is based on agriculture and such an economic structure is also vulnerable to various factors. For this purpose, it is considered necessary to pay attention to the livelihood sustainability of the studied villages.
 
Methodology
The present study falls into the category of qualitative research. In the current research, purposive sampling and semi structured in-depth interview technique were used to collect data. The coding and further analysis of the data was assisted by ATLAS.ti 8.4. The coding steps to achieve the research model were done in three steps. The first step is to encode the text of the interviews, picture, audio and video files, the second stage is to classify the concepts and achieve the main and sub-categories and the third step is to draw semantic relationships between codes and categories and achieve a conceptual network of research.
 
Results and Discussion
The residents of six northern villages (Hakim khan bab, Haji castle, Upper Tangi, Ghulam Siddiq Castle, Chaharkhaneh and Akakhil) of Andar district, Ghazni province, Afghanistan included the study population. The total number of households in these villages was 201 and their total population was 2198 peoples. As mentioned, the data collection tools in this study were interviews, direct observation, photography and video. Data collection continued until the researcher reached theoretical saturation and the research has reached the saturation stage by conducting 23 interview. Due to the problems and potentials in rural Afghanistan, the present study was conducted to achieve sustainable livelihood in rural areas of Andar district. In this way, the livelihood problems and challenges of these villages can be identified and various solutions can be found for them. In this study, the process of guided qualitative content analysis was used to determine the factors affecting sustainable livelihoods in the northern regions of Andar district, Ghazni province, and 60 initial codes were extracted. By multiples revisions and integration of codes based on similarity in several stages, 11 main categories and 19 subcategories were extracted.
 
Conclusion
Afghanistan is one of the developing countries where most of the people live in rural areas and the rural people are struggling with poverty and various livelihood problems. At the same time, efforts to reduce poverty are minimal and villagers live in greater deprivation. According to the research results, agricultural activities determine the economic life of the studied villages that the agricultural sector alone is not able to provide livelihood for households. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the agricultural sector. Livelihood diversity can be a good option to overcome the unfavorable living condition in rural areas. From the analysis of the studied data, it can be concluded that severe dependence on the agricultural sector, war and security challenges, lack of food security and poor performance of the livestock and poultry sector have increased the livelihood challenges of the villages. The wars of recent decades have exacerbated poverty and insecurity, threatening the lives of many Afghans. The intensification and damage of the war compared to the city, is very high in the villages and the studied villages have suffered a lot of damage due to the war and security challenges and they play a significant role in weakening and hurting the agricultural sector, the destruction of houses, the disability of rural people and the lack of investment.