Professor receives book award from Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action

Alnoor S. Ebrahim, associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, received the 2004 Book Award from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), for his book, "NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting, and Learning," published by Cambridge University Press (2003).

The book examines systems of reporting, monitoring, and organizational learning in the planning and policy work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in South Asia and its global network extending to Europe and North America. It combines original case studies and research with an extensive review of literature from multiple fields including organizational behavior, social and critical theory, civil society studies, and environmental and natural resource management.

Reviewing the book when it was published in 2003, David Lewis, senior lecturer in NGO management at the London School of Economics and Political Science said, "This book stands as a major contribution to the research literature on non-governmental development organizations…the author offers a compelling and challenging antidote to the 'feel good' studies which characterize much of this research field."

The ARNOVA book award committee was unanimous in its enthusiasm for the book, said Committee Chair Peter Dobkin Hall, Hauser Lecturer on Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University. Ebrahim received the award at the recent ARNOVA conference in Los Angeles.

Ebrahim received his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.