This article utilises the main principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness as one conceptual and methodological strategy for making sense of Nepal's recent experiences of educational reform, primarily an increasing loss in ownership in the transition from a project to programme (SWAp) aid delivery paradigm. Whilst drawing on theoretical ideas and concepts from a range of fields, my orientation to the object of Nepal is particular: from 1994 to 2000 I served as Danida's Chief Technical Adviser to the Basic and Primary Education Project (BPEP), allowing me to witness first-hand the shift from the "project" BPEP I (1993-1997) to the "programme" BPEP II (1999-2004). The article argues that despite repeated international declarations and new "solutions" for recipient ownership of aid processes, the reality is a continued loss of ownership in places like Nepal, suggesting a further politics of domination and marginalisation likely to accentuate that country's mixed record of educational development and progress.