Olav Kjørven
EAT’s Senior Director of Strategy
Olav is part of EAT’s Leadership team and provides strategic oversight to EAT’s policy work, leads engagement on global policy arenas, and guides EAT’s science and knowledge initiatives for maximum impact on food systems policies and practices.
Olav’s career spans political leadership roles for Norwegian development cooperation (2001-2005) and several senior leadership posts at the United Nations. He led the Bureau for Development Policy of the United Nations Development Program for almost seven years (2007-2013), overseeing an international staff of some 360, programs delivering in the hundreds of millions every year, and policy work ranging from democratic governance to climate change. Olav played a central role in the complex and highly political process that led to Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, including organizing the largest global consultation ever undertaken by the UN with millions of people engaged. He also instigated and coordinated the Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, which produced its groundbreaking report “Making the Law Work for Everyone” in 2008.
Olav holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University and is a Norwegian national.
