The purpose of the study is to understand how local understandings of the context shape the tactics of international non governmental organizations (INGOs) working on HIV/AIDS in Burma. While external opposition and human rights groups believe the politically sensitive environment imposes too many restrictions on aid work, internal actors maintain that there is significant room to maneuver. Despite the lack of legal accountability and human rights abuses of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), local viewpoints indicate that humanitarian actors find the cracks in the system and locate the space in which to operate. Rather than reacting to impenetrable constraints on aid, humanitarian agencies perceive aid delivery as an iterative process in which local actors have agency to contest the government's restrictions. Given the potential for doing harm, the main question in this research is how INGOs negotiate aid delivery and maneuver through constraints on programme implementation.