This paper focuses on the capacity building of "local partnership" members or leaders as development agents in their Mayan communities. It relates to an education/training process started in 1995 in four different regions of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, which was carried out by Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and academic institutions. It refers to the topics, methods and techniques used in eight training workshops involving local groups' leaders from fifteen Mayan communities. The paper points out the capacities acquired by the local Mayan leaders and the impact on their own lives, and their current work with groups and communities. It is based on participant observation in workshops and communities and on interviews with trained agents. It was found that the major impact of the entire process relates to the agents' personal development. The pedagogic relation employed to encourage local and ethnic identities, traditional knowledge and self-confidence was of great importance in this process as well. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)