All three are located within the broader environment in which NGOs work. This is the crucial variable of ‘context’, against which an analysis of any NGO must he placed, and which has political, historical and cultural dimensions. It varies over both time and space. For example, when a change of government in a particular country takes place it may open new doors for NGO activity or conversely it may bring a new set of restrictions on NGOs. The geographical contexts of NGO activity are also diverse. This makes it difficult to draw NGO management lessons from a specific country such as Bangladesh where NGOs have been shaped by distinctive processes of culture, history and politics — and then unthinkingly apply them to other countries in Europe, Africa or Latin America. This hook is structured