Through this paper, we explore the processes that led to the emergence of social work in Haiti, as well as the form in which it was originally embodied. Indeed, the analysis of the speeches of the pioneers taken from their publication Femmes haïtiennes (Ligue feminine d’action sociale, 1953), as well as the examination of a set of documentary data and data from an interview conducted with a former student of the National School of Social Work, suggest that the adoption by the State and by the feminist movement of the normative principles of development imposed by the United States from 1915 played a key role in the genesis of social work in Haiti and in its configuration. Development is understood here as a device carrying within it a set of liberal normative principles according to which so-called traditional societies should evolve towards modernity, which is characterized, among other things, by the transition to the market economy, as well as through the adoption of democracy and Western social institutions.