Village level institutional mechanism is essential for the protection of indigenous community conserved areas. A key aspect of FES's interventions in the villages of Mandla was the constitution of the Natural Resource Management Committees or Prakratik Sansadhan Prabandhan Samitis (PSPS). The samitis, were elected by the Gram Sabhas (adult meetings) and had universal membership ensuring that every resident of the village, despite his/her social or economic standing had a say in the functioning of the Samiti. Advising the gram Sabha on natural resource management and spearheading the process of developing rules and regulations around commons is one of the duties of the committee along with planning for natural resources and land use.

The PSPS received training on decentralized governance, perspective building on commons and planning. Village institutions arrived at a set of rules on using natural resources. Primarily, these rules included boundary rules, protection rules for forests and usage rules to some extent. Basic focus has been on controlling lopping and logging of trees. At some places, they have also come up with rules regarding sharing of fish produced in village pond, etc. for forests and usage rules to some extent.