The main responsibility of the Self Development of People Committee is to establish partnerships with group's of economically poor and oppressed people through outreach, solidarity, and financial support. The Criteria and Guidelines are tools the committee will use to validate and fund projects presented to them. The criteria are the standards that the committee uses to determine whether a project is valid for funding within the ministry. The Guidelines are the measures to help the committee rank already-validated projects.

• In processing and evaluating the request for funding which will come before the committee, each member must be always mindful and cognizant of the mandate for which this ministry was designed for: to work toward the self-development of economically poor, oppressed, and disadvantaged people who own, control, and benefit directly from the projects that promote long-term change in their lives and communities.
• The committee must abide by the protocol set by the National Committee in releasing funds for projects that have been validated (conduct site visit and make a written evaluation of the project which has met the criteria for funding. Funds are sent to the Presbytery Office and remitted to the committee.
• Committee must follow rules that are decent and in order in conducting and carrying out the meetings (membership duly constituted, acceptable attendance, works cooperatively with appropriate governing body.)
• Actively promote the ministry of SDOP: do workshop, newsletters, community contacts and other means of outreach. The bottom line is to reach those specific groups of people who can use this available resource.