The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management (Earthscan Reader Series) [Paperback]

Michael Edwards (Editor), Alan Fowler (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1853838489 | ISBN-13: 978-1853838484 | Publication Date: May 1, 2002

In the last ten years, NGOs have become a force for transformation in global politics and economics. Their numbers and size have grown dramatically and they have assumed far more extensive responsibilities as intermediaries between governments, businesses and other institutions, and local communities and citizens. With this growth has come an ever-more pressing requirement for effective management among NGOs and their operations. Focusing on development organizations working on issues of poverty and injustice, but relevant to NGOs in all sectors, this volume brings together a selection of key writings on how NGOs can position and organize themselves to achieve maximum impact and effectiveness. The editors set out the management challenges facing NGOs in a stimulating Introduction followed by a range of contributions divided into ten sets of issues.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The book is a useful contribution not only for NGO practitioners, but for others who interface with NGOs as well.' Development Policy Review

About the Author

Michael Edwards is the director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Unit in New York, having worked in international development for the last 20 years. He is the author of Future Positive: International Co-operation in the 21st Century and co-editor (with John Gaventa) of Global Citizen Action. Alan Fowler is a consultant, analyst and writer who has worked for over 20 years with international development NGOs in Africa, Asia and the United States. He is author of Striking a Balance: A Guide to Enhancing the Effectiveness of NGOs in International Development and The Virtuous Spiral: A Guide to Sustainability for NGOs in International Development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 466 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853838489
• ISBN-13: 978-1853838484
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Edwards is widely recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on civil society, philanthropy, and social change. For the past thirty years, he has worked to strengthen the contributions of ordinary citizens to their communities as a grant giver, writer, advocate, organizer, and activist across five continents, and has lived and worked in Zambia, Malawi, Colombia, India, the UK, and the United States. Michael graduated from Oxford University with a "congratulatory" first-class honors degree in geography, and was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of London for his work on housing the urban poor in Latin America. Dissatisfied with academic research, he entered the world of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in 1982 and spent the next fifteen years as a senior manager in international relief and development NGOs, including Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, the Prasad Foundation, and Voluntary Service Overseas. During this time, Michael became known for his innovative thinking about NGOs and development, and in 1998 he was invited to join the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as a senior adviser on civil society, where he led a program to improve the agency's engagement with a wide range of nongovernmental groups. Two years later, he was appointed as director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Program in New York, overseeing grants totaling more than $900 million between 1999 and 2008, when he left to become a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a Network for Ideas and Action, in New York; a senior visiting scholar at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service; and a senior visiting fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at Manchester University in the UK. Michael also cofounded the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation, which makes grants to voluntary organizations that combine their work for social justice with spiritual principles. Michael is the author of thirteen books and hundreds of articles and op-ed pieces, and his writings have changed the way we think about voluntary action and the transformation of society. He writes regularly for openDemocracy, the Financial Times, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and many other newspapers and magazines, and is a featured speaker at literary festivals and other events around the world. He lives with his wife, Cora, a nonprofit-fund-raising consultant who also teaches at New York University, in Swan Lake, a small community in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains of New York, where they have painstakingly rebuilt and renovated one of the first houses built by settlers who arrived in the 1830s to establish a tanning industry in Sullivan County. You can visit Michael's Web site at http://www.futurepositive.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars should be required reading in business schools, November 28, 2006

By 

Byron Reimus (Yardley, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management (Earthscan Reader Series) (Paperback)

A primer on how to start an NGO that ends up doing a better job of explaining some of what's behind the explosion of activism in recent years than anything else out there that I have come across. Anyone interested in this subject-- from academics and students, to business executives, public policy makers and journalists--will find this book highly informative and insightful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, December 1, 2010

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F. Cazares "Frank" (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management (Earthscan Reader Series) (Paperback)

This book was purchased for a course I had taken about NGO's and while I rarely have written reviews about texts purchased for classes I felt this one was a special exception. It is incredibly insightful and provides a great look into the world of NGO's and how they operate. A great read if you're interested in the subject.