What I learnt from looking behind The Global Journal's Top 100 NGO ranking
It is probably fair to say that T he Global Journal ’ s Top 100 NGO r anking had a bit of a bumpy start. When it launched th e first edition in 2012, Dave Algoso’s critical post and editor Jean-Chr istophe Nothias ’ harsh critique quickly dominated the virtual perception in the aid blogosphere. So when the second edition was published in January 2013, vaguely hinting at ‘innovation, impact and sustainability’ as key new criteria to assess NGOs, I was sceptical and mentally preparing for more critical comments. Luckily, the researcher in me won over the potentially ranting aid blogger and I sent out some messages to a variety of organizations featured in the ranking as well as the editorial team asking for more details on process and methodology. I received open and positive feedback all around and one 20 page methodology paper, a couple of email exchanges and a 25 minute phone c onversation with one NGO later, a much more nuanced picture had emerged about the ranking, learning pr