Participation is present as one of the most important factors to achieve sustainable change in human development. Communication and dialogue are amongst the most important tools to create participation. This qualitative study is trying to find out what methods are being used by development professionals to create communication and dialogue. It also studies the development professionals conception of communication with beneficiaries and their view of the beneficiary itself. The data was retrieved from five semi-structural interviews with development professionals active in community development or empowerment. The most important conclusions were that communication with beneficiaries appears to be perceived as consulting the beneficiary, that beneficiaries only are being involved in decisions concerning their proximate reality on a local level, that the beneficiary is most commonly viewed upon as equal, student or passive and that there seems to be a discrepancy between the development professionals’ official discourse, personal opinion and actual practice.