This paper places the experiences of the Active Citizenship in Central America project led by Dublin City University within wider discussions on the role of civil society in building democracy and furthering development. The paper examines project development and content and assesses its effectiveness using a framework derived from Nancy Fraser’s (1993) concept of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ publics. It finds that the project oscillates between both these positions, and makes policy recommendations to help move it closer to a ‘strong publics’ conception. The paper ends by asserting that in the current conjuncture a ‘strong publics’ conception is a useful guiding principle for the design of development projects on civil society.