The dominant guiding principle, employed by CAUSE Canada in deciding which overseas projects to support, is that development must place its primary emphasis upon self-sufficiency. Furthermore, CAUSE Canada believes that alienating people from their own projects is perhaps the most grievous of the many development errors which one can make. And this is often accomplished by doing things for people who are perfectly capable of doing them for themselves.

In order for a project to be considered for funding it must:

1. Be physically located within either West Africa or Central America;
2. Fall within CAUSE Canada’s program/sector priority guidelines for either relief or development activities;
3. Have been initiated by the local beneficiaries and be able to clearly demonstrate a very high degree of local involvement;
4. Benefit the entire community, either directly or indirectly;
5. Be both technically and socially feasible;
6. Support local autonomy and help to develop the decision-making capabilities of the project beneficiaries; and
7. Contribute to community capacity building with project ownership being held by the beneficiaries themselves.