The main objective of this research was to study community acceptance process of the potential to develop hydropower projects in Yom River basin by using the Yom water gate project (Bann Had Sa-pan Chan) as a case study. The research methodology was qualitative, based on documentary analysis, focus group, in-depth interview, and observation which consisted of 112 members of the community. The results from the study of community acceptance process showed that most of the villagers accepted the project. The community acceptance process on Yom water gate project consisted of 5 steps: (1) the awareness step, where villagers acknowledged via several channel (2) the interest step, where villagers considered the possibility, benefits, and suitability (3) the evaluation step, where villagers concentrated the details of the water gate project and compared the future situation with the present one. (4) the trial step, where villagers implemented the project, and (5) the adoption step, where villagers made decisions and accepted the project. The community acceptance process can be applied to other projects with similar characteristics.