The politics of participatory governance holds positive promises for a wider citizen political participation and at the same time invites reflection on the complexities to realize it in practice. Through the lengthy and first ever globally undertaken consultation on Internet governance, Brazil's Marco Civil da Internet initiative offers the possibility to understand the ‘behind the scenes’ process and struggles between competing powers, grasping the limitations and eventual lessons learned. Through a Theory of Change angle, exploring how change happens and what it means in a particular context, and by using Bhola's (2000, p. 163) three dimensions of impact – 'impact by design', 'impact by interaction', 'impact by emergence' – this case study aims to shed a light into the usually neglected aspects of ‘how’ and ‘why’ the citizen lead initiative has been accomplished. The case study therefore will aim to examine if the multi-stakeholder platforms and participatory democracy modalities are sufficient means to ensure that citizens’ voices are heard and taken into account within existing governance structures. By adopting the lens from ‘behind the scenes’ and ‘exposure to facts from inside out’ the analysis will strive to uncover what is usually by-passed when using the standard impact assessment methodologies.