Alnoor Ebrahim

Visiting Associate Professor of Public Policy
Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
Office Address
Bennett-230
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 143
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-1083
Email: Alnoor_Ebrahim@ksg.harvard.edu
Assistant
Rosita Scarfo (617-496-1739)
Alnoor Ebrahim

Profile

Alnoor Ebrahim, Visiting Associate Professor of Public Policy, conducts research on accountability and organizational learning in nonprofit and civil society organizations. He is author of the award-winning NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting, and Learning and of a new edited volume, Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics (with Edward Weisband), which compares accountability across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Ebrahim's professional work has included commissioned reports on World Bank-Civil Society relations and on NGO accountability at the Inter-American Development Bank. He also works with nonprofit executive directors in the United States on the challenges of organizational learning in poverty contexts. Ebrahim comes to Harvard from Virginia Tech, where he was founding codirector of the Institute for Governance and Accountabilities. He holds a PhD from Stanford University (1999), where he studied organizational behavior and environmental planning and management, and a BSc degree from MIT (1991).

 

Research

Research for a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Book Chapters
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations." Reconceptualising NGOs and their Roles in Development : NGOs, Civil Society and the International Aid System. Ed. Paul Yaw Opoku-Mensah, David Lewis, and Terje Tvedt. Aalborg University Press, 2007.
  • Edited Volumes
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor, and Edward Weisband, eds. Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Rethinking Capacity Building: The Need for Analytical and Adaptive Capacity." Capacity.org 31 (August 2007).
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Strategy vs. Compliance: Managing Accountability in Business, Government, and Nonprofits." Presentation at HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, October 22, 2007.
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor. "The World Bank and Democratic Accountability." Presentation at Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance, School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University, Sweden, June 2007.
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor. “Creating Accountability: What do Business, Government, and Nonprofits have in Common?” Presentation: Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, April 5, 2007.
    • Ebrahim, Alnoor, and Steve Herz. "Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society." HBS Working Papers and KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series (08-027 and RWP07-060), 2007.