A comparative cross sectional study was carried out in February 2002 among women of reproductivernage group in rural South Gondar zone to assess the factors affecting the success and sustainability of arnCommunity based reproductive health program. The study was conducted in eight peasant associationsrnof the zone taking successful and weak/failed program areas for comparison of various characteristics.rnBoth quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection. The qualitative methodrnincluded key informants interview, and Focus Group Discussions with functional and non-functionalrn(drop out) Community-based reproductive health agents (CBRHAs). A multistage sampling techniquernwas employed to select 792 study subjects for the quantitative part.rnThe results indicated that about 92% of respondents know at least one Modern Contraceptive Methodsrn(MCM) in successful as compared to 83% in weak program areas. The difference was statisticallyrnsignificant [OR(95% CI) = 2.35 (1.47, 3.8)]. The proportions of women who were using MCMrn(14.65% & 4.55%) & attended antenatal care service at least once (17.4% & 10.8% ) were found to bernsignificantly higher in Successful than weak program areas respectively [OR(95%CI) =rn1.74(1.10,2.76) respectively]. Large proportions of the respondents (94%) are aware of HIV/AIDS butrndetail knowledge of transmission routes (mean score = 1.2/4) and prevention methods (1.9/4) werernfound to be low.rnAwareness to the presence of the CBRHA in the locality (61.1% & 40.4%), Participation inrnselection of the agent (4.8% & 1.5%), Acceptance of the agent (90.4% & 59.4%), ever talk tornCBRHA about Family Planning or reproductive health (29.8% & 7.8%), Knowledge of arnfunctional village health committee (56.8% & 21.2%) in the locality were significantly higherrnin successful than in weak program areas respectively. [OR(95%CI) = 2.32(1.74,3.08),rn3.28(1.22,9.27), 6.65(3.59,12.43), 5.05(3.22,7.96), and 5.66(3.97,8.09) respectively]rnOn multivariate analysis acceptance of the CBRHAs, level of willingness to work as CBRHA, andrnsatisfaction by the CBRH service were significantly associated with CBRH service use [OR(95%CI) =rn1.62 (1.75,3.48), 2.79(1.66,4.67), and 3.4(1.71,6.73) respectively]rnviiirnIn general, community involvement in selection of the volunteers, acceptance of the CBRHAs,rninterpesonal communication by the agents, satisfaction by the service and level of support to thernagents are found to be the major factors affecting the CBRHP. Therefore, program managers andrncoordinators are advised to improve the level of community participation & the overall supportrnprovided to the program in order to enhance the success & sustained delivery of quality & integratedrnreproductive health services to the community.