This case study, by using transformative learning underpinned by critical realism, explores how a contextualised and non-confrontational rights-based approach by a Cambodian non-governmental organisation (NGO) has influenced rural citizens' agency in fulfilling their rights to development. The NGO, by working closely with the government, has widened the democratic spaces made available through decentralisation to create spaces conducive to the citizens' rights-claiming. It has also used multi-pronged and process-oriented confidence and capacity development approaches to enhance their agency to claim their rights. However, the principle of working with government is not a panacea for all the rights-based operations and their contexts.