Individuals and families forced to flee their homes during internal armed conflict have to cope with the weakening, if not complete breakdown, of societal institutions in their local communities. Furthermore, internally displaced people (IDPs) flee to host communities which frequently are poor and struggle to cope with the influx.The common approach to addressing this humanitarian problem used by the international community is project-based, sequenced programmes. Frequently decisions regarding these interventions do not involve IDPs, accentuating their powerless position. This approach has been criticized for not providing for true participation and therefore not leading to sustainable change (Chambers, 1995) and it can only meet the basic elements of participation in a typology of participation identified by Pretty et al. (1995). 2 The following case study of a post-conflict transition project in Mindanao, Philippines illustrates an alternative paradigm of participation (Muncy, 2000) developed by Community and Family Services International (CFSI), a Philippines-based international humanitarian non-government organization (NGO). This paradigm uses a blended rather than solely sequenced approach to engagement, participation and action. The process engages IDPs from the moment of displacement and does not reduce the experiences