While the research undertaken by Samarthan threw light on the bottlenecks in implementation of NREGA, it was realised that there is a need to demonstrate models of panchayats which can effectively deliver rural employment under NREGS. Samarthan and collaborating local organisations took the initiative in Sidhi, Shivpuri, Seoni, Tikamgarh and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh to develop five panchayats in each district as the model panchayats on NREGA.

The model building initiatives included :
- Revision of perspective plans with citizen’s active participation
- Inclusion of households to access job cards
- Strengthen Panchayat capacities in accounts and record keeping as well as civil work measurement

The efforts resulted in entitlement realisations to the families which had applied for work. In Shivpuri district, out of the 142 families from the model panchayats who had applied for work, 127 families got job for more than 80 days in the last financial year. In the Panchayats of Sidhi, 780 applications were filed by families and over 1500 people gained employment.

The efforts have also led to social mobilisation of the labourers for entitlement realisation. The labourers of intervened Panchayats of Sidhi district were organised to collectively demand jobs. The labourers’ collective decided that their representatives would actively check the muster roll in their respective panchayats to ensure that fudging is not done. As an effect of this initiative, there was a change in the wage rate. Earlier they used to get Rs 20-30 as daily payment and now they have started receiving Rs 58 as their wages.