Villagers' self-organization, as a collaborative process, plays a fundamental role in promoting sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. This study was carried out to identify the driving forces affecting the self-organization of villagers and to improve sustainable rural livelihoods in Ashtian County, Iran. Utilizing a qualitative research design with an analytical-exploratory approach, data were gathered through semi-structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews with 30 subject matter experts. The collected qualitative data were analyzed using the Delphi method and MicMac software to identify underlying relationships and patterns among concepts. The findings indicate that the distribution of factors and variables influencing the improvement of sustainable rural livelihoods in the study area is characterized by instability. Additionally, among the 24 primary influential factors, 10 critical drivers emerged as pivotal to advancing villagers' self-organization and promoting long-term sustainability in rural livelihoods. These drivers include innovation and creativity of villagers in agricultural and non-agricultural activities, skills and experience in group activities, and the establishment of local organizations as individual factors; increasing the spirit of entrepreneurship, launching, and promoting new local businesses as psychological factors; increasing participation, cooperation, and a sense of responsibility in agricultural and non-agricultural activities as social factors; empowering villagers by increasing their awareness, social and economic skills, and leveraging new IT and ICT technologies for structural empowerment in the direction of self-organization as education and empowerment factors; access to diverse and reliable financial resources for agricultural and non-agricultural activities as economic factors; delegating authority to villagers in line with local planning and decentralization as planning and management factors; and finally, supporting the creation and development of local businesses, diversifying agricultural and non-agricultural activities, and increasing investment in innovative businesses as socio-economic support factors. These drivers collectively contribute to advancing villagers' self-organization and enhancing sustainable rural livelihoods.
