The paper introduces an illustrative model, the ‘house model’, which contains a number of key elements for constructing and sustaining people’s participation in forest management. The model is used as a tool for analysing four donor supported forestry projects in Tanzania, Mozambique, Laos and Vietnam. The study shows that the two core elements for sustaining participation in forest management, regardless of land tenure or forest management model, are: (a) attitude: local people in the specific context see themselves as responsible for the local resources and; (b) access: local people gain secured access to information and benefits from the resources.