Participatory adult education programs assist individuals to substitute interdependent, mutually beneficial relationships for unrewarding, dependent relationships. Indicators of changes in dependency, however, are absent or imprecise in evaluations of participatory projects. A study explored facets of dependency by relating practitioners' activities in Canada (on experimental farm planning projects), Indonesia (on various government/village projects), and New Zealand (on natural resource management projects) to theoretical frameworks of dependency. A topology of models for dependency that vary with respect to four elements (origins of dependency; who defines dependency; who is responsible for changing dependency; and recommendations for countering dependency) is proposed. The models offer mandated self-reliance; phased self-reliance; and situated self-reliance. The concept of interdependence rather than dependency would enable more successful evaluation of social goals of participatory projects. Implications for evaluation include the following: (1) development of a conceptual model that features dependence and independence as polar extremes, with interdependence as a dynamic middle; (2) development of evaluations that assess quality of relationships rather than only evaluating changes in activities of program recipients; and (3) collaborative development of context-specific indicators for interdependency. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/KC)