The primary goal of community-based tourism (CBT) is maximal community participation in decision-making processes. However, each stakeholder group, including partnering international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), has their own definition of the concepts central to the goals of CBT development. Claims that projects promote sustainable development and involve the participation and inclusion of the community do not always identify the operational definitions of such terms, and these terms often become reified in development discourse as INGOs set project agendas based upon their own culturally constructed definitions. The case study presented here examines the efforts of an INGO partnering with a local womens group in rural Vietnam to build a local definition of CBT by drawing from and building upon collective local knowledge to formulate an implementation plan that best represents the goals of all stakeholders, including those of traditionally marginalized populations.