The Marginalized and Vulnerable Groups Study grew out of a concern that some marginalized segments were left out of the development process in the areas where Program Nasional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Mandiri-Pedesaan (PNPM-Rural Rural)—a country-wide community driven development project in Indonesia–works. Previous studies on the Kecamatan Development Project (KDP), the predecessor of PNPM-Rural, as well as the baseline survey for PNPM-Rural indicates that decisionmaking within the project favors the majority and better-off as opposed to poorer villagers and those living in outlying areas (McLaughlin, Satu, & Hoppe, 2007). The poorer groups, which include female heads-of-households and heads-of-household with no primary education, have limited participation in the KDP/PNPM-Rural decision making process, as about 75 percent of the poor attending the meetings were passive participants (Gibson and Woolcock, 2005; Voss, 2008). Other studies have shown that despite the passive nature of participation, when compared to similar projects, KDP/PNPM-Rural was better in getting the poor involved (Agung and Hull, 2002). This study was undertaken to better understand the dynamics of participation, defined as “a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions and resources which affect them”.