The article theoretically substantiates the need to use a special tool to ensure sustainable development of rural territories. As such, it is proposed to use a monitoring system that will allow to analyze, evaluate and control all the factors in the implementation of strategies for their socio-economic development, and will also determine the level of achievement of the goals. Within the framework of the Voronezh region, the analysis of indicators of the socio-economic development of rural territories is carried out, their typical problems are identified. The most common among which are the worsening demographic situation and the underdevelopment of the educational system. On the example of the Vorobevsky municipal district, a typical homogeneous rural territory of the Voronezh region, the influence of strategic planning on its development is shown. It has been established that most of the indicators of socio-economic development are planned with positive shifts, which, however, does not indicate the possibility of actual achievement of the set goals. A comparative characteristic and analysis of the impact of strategies for the socio-economic development of rural settlements on the implementation of the strategy of the Vorobevsky district was made. It was revealed that the mission of the Vorobevsky district combines elements of the missions of rural settlements: the cultural heritage of Berezovsky, a comfortable living environment and entrepreneurship of Solonetsky, a comfortable living environment and agriculture of Nikolsky 1st; The general goal and objectives of the strategies of rural settlements are reflected in the strategy of socio-economic development of the Vorobevsky district. It is proposed to introduce annual monitoring as a tool capable of achieving the goals of the socio-economic development of rural areas, since the existing simple assessment of the formation of target indicators in three stages will not give the desired result. In this regard, the necessity of developing a special methodology for monitoring the implementation of strategies for socio-economic development, which will assess the achievement of the goals of the strategy in percentage terms at a particular point in time, is justified.