Table of Contents: Introduction..... Part One: Religious and ethnic dimensions of Myanmar NGOs...1- Myanmar NGOs: a multifaceted civil society dominated by ethnic and faith based organizations...1.1-Methodology of the study... 1.2-Religious and ethnic trends framing Myanmar NGOs and solidarity networks..... 2- Religion and ethnicity in Myanmar NGOs: Historical factors and contemporary facts... 2.1- From the first modern professional NGOs to the emergence of a Myanmar civil society... 2.2- Cyclone Nargis: disaster or opportunity for Myanmar NGOs?..... Part Two: Myanmar NGOs: support to the regime or roots of the opposition?... 1- How powerful are the Myanmar NGOs?... 1.1- What are the sources of power and legitimacy for NGOs?... 1.2 - Are changes at higher, central levels possible?... 2- NGOs as actors of decentralization at the local level: case studies in the Kachin State...2.1- Case studies of two Kachin NGOs... 2.2- Personal trajectories: from NGO involvement to political activism... 3- The role(s) of NGOs in a political transition... 3.1- Individual perceptions and NGOs? politics... 3.2- ?No word, no confrontation”... Conclusion... Bibliography