While the RGMVP model draws heavily on the experiences of UNDP’s South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme (SAPAP) and Andhra Pradesh’s Indira Kranthi Patham sponsored by the state and the World Bank in partnership with SERP, over the years, RGMVP has evolved a unique framework to address rural poverty and reach a range of developmental initiatives to the poor.

The fulcrum on which all of RGMVP’s developmental initiatives effectively operate are the Community Institutions of the Poor (CIPs). This critical process of building CIPs within the RGMVP framework is focussed on creating an infrastructure that allows the poor to proactively participate in the developmental process on a large scale. The CIPs are the systemic interface between the poor and development initiatives, characterised by their ability to scale up to include a growing number of poor and poorest of the poor within the development process.

The CIPs also make it convenient for the development interventions meant for rural poor to be implemented; allow development resources to be used in an efficient manner due to their collective nature; facilitate effective development, piloting, and introduction of new initiatives without interference; and, most importantly, since they provide a vibrant development platform for the poor, the poor take complete ownership of them.