Recent pronouncements on the benefits of enlisting civil society in educational development have so far not attracted adequate scholarly analyses. This paper therefore seeks to present a critical perspective on this new trend by providing a fine-grained look at three concrete cases of NGO involvement in educational policy-making in Nepal. It also works to advance wider theoretical debates about the mechanisms of policy convergence and post-structural theories of de-politicisation and its possible effects, as well as commenting on the origins of the Maoist insurgency and providing a basic conceptual schema for much-needed research in other national contexts. (Contains 1 table, 4 notes, and 2 figures.)