Research Staff

Elling N. Tjønneland

Senior Researcher

Current projects

Jul 2023 - Jun 2027

Conflict Enclosures

Completed projects

Dec 2009 - Dec 2010

Review of Training for Peace

Nov 2006 - Apr 2006

Norwegian Africa policy

Jan 2003 - Oct 2003

Security sector reform

Book Chapters

Reports

CMI Reports

Political scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.

Tjønneland is a political scientist with more than 30 years of experience focusing on a range of development issues and development aid and with a strong geographical focus on Africa, South Africa and Southern Africa. He has led numerous international assessment and evaluation teams commissioned by a range of Norwegian, international and African institutions.

He has field experience from many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malawi, Mocambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Tjønneland has worked as researcher and advisor on several thematic areas. This includes development aid policies and implementation, the global development aid architecture,  rising powers and African development, peace and security in Africa, regional cooperation and regional institutions in Africa, democracy and civil society, poverty reduction and development.  

Tjønneland is the former Chair of the Norwegian Association for Development Research, the international committee of the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association, the Norwegian Council for Southern Africa, Deputy Chair of the Norwegian Evaluation Association and member of the board of the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies.


Tjønneland has been a member of the editioral committee of the Journal of Peace Research, an international associate editor of Transformation - Critical perspectives on Southern Africa and editor for Zimbabwe and South Africa in Store Norske Leksikon.

Most recent publications