In 2005, the US Government induced a sea-change in foreign assistance policy by effectively field-testing the hypothesis that in fact “freedom,” and not “poverty alleviation,” was the central pillar of sustainable foreign assistance and international development work. Although this had previously been suggested, the idea had gained no prominence in either the policy or the implementation of development programs. This dissertation tests the question of whether freedom represents a better core position for development theory by examining the nature and use of freedom as a concept by the primary US foreign assistance donor, the United States Agency for International Development, the definitions of success within the discourse of the non-governmental implementers of development programming and the linkages or clashes between them. The result is a study of the utility of freedom as an idea around which to re-conceptualize the mechanisms of successful, sustainable development programming, challenging traditional models.