Starting from the 1960s, modernist approaches to socioeconomic development have been used by governmental and non-governmental institutions to address general issues of poverty and underdevelopment in Guinea and most African countries. Such approaches guided a variety of modernization and technology transfer programs for economic development, particularly in the areas of agricultural, education, and health improvement (Nnadozie, 2003). However, overtime, increased discrepancies between expected and observed outcomes increased objections among academics and practitioners regarding modernist, blueprints, and top down based strategies, in favor of more participatory ones (Chambers 1995, 2002; Cernea 1985; White et al., 1994; Servaes et al.,1996; and Jacobson, 2004). The present study argues that lasting sustainability and the success of such participatory initiatives are strongly dependent on the level of genuine participation of their intended beneficiaries in the whole cycle of project planning and implementation. However, few scholars discuss how such participation could be measured or estimated (Jacobson, 2004), particularly for large-scale social change programs in less advantaged communities. Instead, most of the work on participatory approaches to social change tends to focus on developing strategies of participation, and constitutes the key elements of the work of Chambers (1995, 2002), Freire (2001), Jacobson (2004), Melkote (1991), and White (1994) in that area of social change. Accordingly, the investigation conducted in this study was particularly designed to identify and to examine indicators of beneficiaries’ genuine participation in social change programs. The study tested three null hypotheses based on four variables argued in the literature reviewed to indicate potential differences between benefactors and beneficiaries in their opinions on beneficiaries’ participation in social change programs in general, and in the Guinean context in particular. This was done through a review of literature concerning participation in social change programs and a collection and analysis of data obtained from a questionnaire specifically designed and tested for this study. The questionnaire measured beneficiaries’ degree of influence, ownership, power in social change programs, and the participatory nature of communication processes in social change programs; constituting the four variables identified as indicators of participation in the literature review. The results indicated significant differences between beneficiaries and benefactors in their overall opinions and in their profiles on the issue of beneficiaries’ participation in social change programs in Guinea.