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Paper short abstract

In this paper we report on a project that has attempted to map the development NGO sector in the UK. We discuss the methodological pitfalls of such a mapping exercise, its advantages, and the insights it affords as to how the sector makes sense as a sector, or as a coalition of overlapping networks

Paper long abstract

Our attempts to understand the pressures and changes development NGOs experience needs to be matched by our understanding of how the constitution of the sector itself is changing. This means understanding who is part of the sector, its financial structure, geography, networks and inter-relationships. The changing role of multi-sector partnerships, for example has to be understood in the context of the changing NGO sector itself. In this paper we report on a project that has attempted to map the development NGO sector in the UK. We discuss the methodological pitfalls of such a mapping exercise, its advantages, and the insights it affords as to how 'the sector' makes sense as a sector, or as a coalition of overlapping networks.