Mr. Alf Jerve, a national of Norway, joined the Panel in November 2008 and served until October 2013. He was a Chair from February 1, 2012 to April 30, 2013. A Social Anthropologist by training, Alf Jerve brought to the Panel close to three decades of work in the field of development.

Prior to joining the Panel, he had engaged in a wide range of development activities, including extensive field research in Africa and Asia. Among his assignments was a three-year posting to Tanzania with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation as coordinator of a rural development program.

From 1993 to 1995 he was responsible for resettlement and rehabilitation issues with projects in Bangladesh, during an assignment with the World Bank. In 1995 he became Assistant Director, and served as Director in 2005 and 2006, at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, an internationally recognized development research institution. There he has also devoted his energies and expertise to research and analysis of a wide variety of policy and program issues affecting people in developing countries.

Over the years, Mr. Jerve also has led and participated in numerous independent evaluations commissioned by bilateral and multilateral development agencies and served as a Member of the Roster of Experts for the Asian Development Bank’s Inspection Function. Mr. Jerve earned his Magister Degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Bergen and his Bachelor’s Degree is in the areas of Environmental Science and Biology. His publications have focused on rural development, decentralization, poverty reduction, and on issues of ownership in development aid cooperation.