Paved with Good Intentions : Canada’s Development NGOs from Idealism to Imperialism

“NGOs are as Canadian as hockey,” declared a 1988 Parliamentary report. Few institutions epitomize the foundational Canadian myth of international benevolence like the non-governmental organization devoted to development abroad.

This book raises important questions about these organizations and their development projects: Just how “non-governmental” are organizations that get most of their funding from government agencies? What impact do these funding ties have on NGOs’ ability to support popular demands for democratic reforms and wealth redistribution? What happens when NGOs support a repressive regime? What happens when NGOs bite the hand that feeds them?

Cutting through the NGO catchphrases of “participation” and “empowerment,” Paved with Good Intentions is a critical history that examines the relationships between NGOs, the Canadian government and social movements, in both the North and South. Connecting the NGO boom to the onset of the neoliberal era, this book illustrates how NGOs have served to soften the blow of structural adjustment while co-opting dissent. This book is a call to judge NGOs by the standards they set for themselves when they claim to work for development in poorer countries.