Catherine Herrold, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, has received the 2023 University of Maryland Do Good Institute and Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Global Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Award to explore citizen-led development initiatives in Serbia.

Using the $10,000 grant, Herrold will pursue a research project titled “Civil Society Thrives in the Kafana: Locally Led Development and Grassroots Civic Engagement in Serbia.” The award will fund her summer 2024 fieldwork in Serbia as she continues to investigate how grassroots groups and philanthropic entities outside of professional NGOs mobilize and sustain initiatives for social change.

The project is based on research Herrold began in 2023 on Serbians’ local initiatives, such as sustainable agriculture, cultural festivals and community development projects. Supported by a U.S. State Department Fulbright Scholar award, she lived, worked and interacted with residents, spoke with staff of foundations and government agencies, and collaborated with scholars at the University of Belgrade’s Laboratory for Philanthropy, Solidarity and Care Studies.

Herrold spent five years doing similar research in Egypt and Palestine for her award-winning book “Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond” (Oxford University Press, 2020).

The latest award is sponsored by the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and ARNOVA. Each year, ARNOVA’s annual conference presents 13 awards and six scholarships for achievements in nonprofit, philanthropic and voluntary action research.

Herrold is a senior research associate for the Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. Her research focuses on global civil society, international development, democracy promotion and nonprofit management. She received a Ph.D. from Duke University in 2013.

By Jessica Youngman