Abstract: The article presents a research project, related to the scientific and interdisciplinary debate on the issue of development and its “complication”, focusing especially on the importance of the relational dimension. The research was aimed at building a methodology for assessing the ability of development aid to generate “relational goods”. It has resulted in the definition of an analysis tool – based on the convergence of two different, but consistent approaches, Paradigm of the gift and Social Network Analysis – which has been tested in field work (carried out in Brazil) which focused on the “relational effects” of development aid delivered in the context of the Economy of Communion.