The Millennium Villages project offers a unique, holistic, innovative model for empowering rural communities to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. With the help of new advances in science and technology, local staff members work with villages to create and implement low cost, sustainable, community-led action plans that are tailored to the villages’ specific needs and designed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Critical to the success of the Millennium Villages is the principle that communities must be enabled to lead in their own Development. The project empowers local groups to identify their community’s pressing problems, set responsibilities for developing practical and cost effective solutions, and design initiatives that can be locally managed. All of the Millennium Villages were selected in close consultation with host governments and communities. At the national, district, and local levels, governments are providing significant in-kind contributions and support for the implementation of the Millennium Villages. Governments are also working with the project to identify lessons learned and scale up their applications to reach additional communities. Ensuring that the Millennium Villages can be scaled up as part of national Development strategies and agreeing on cost-sharing responsibilities from the outset ensures that governments are full partners in the project and supports long-term operational sustainability.