Ramanie Kunanayagam

Ramanie Kunanayagam, a Sri Lankan-born Australian citizen, was appointed to the Inspection Panel on December 16, 2018.  Ms. Kunanayagam became Panel Chairperson from January 1, 2022 to December 15, 2023. She brings to the Panel three decades of experience across diverse geopolitical and multicultural environments in the private and public sectors.

Ms. Kunanayagam spent more than 10 years doing fieldwork in a remote part of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. She has held leadership positions in sustainability in both the private sector (working for two FTSE 10 companies) and the nonprofit sector. Most recently before joining the Panel she was the Global Head for Social Performance and Human Rights for BG Group. She has been a member of the boards of two international non-profit development organizations—RESOLVE and the Institute of Human Rights and Business.

Ms. Kunanayagam has strong operational experience working across the entire project cycle. Her experience with multinational and international organizations and valuable experience living and working in more than 30 countries make evident her people skills and ability to broker trust relationships. Her appointment as a secondee to the World Bank very early in her career also gives her insight into and knowledge of the organization’s operations that complement the expertise she has developed working alongside civil society, multilaterals, bilaterals and communities affected by World Bank projects.

She earned a master’s degree in anthropology from Monash University, Australia.

Her initial Panel term ran through December 15, 2023.  The World Bank Board has approved her continuation as a Panel Member until April 7, 2024.

Imrana Jalal

Imrana Jalal was appointed to the Inspection Panel on January 1, 2018, and served as Panel Chair from December 16, 2018, through December 31, 2021. A Fiji national, Ms. Jalal brings to the Panel more than 30 years of experience across diverse geopolitical and multicultural environments in the private and public sectors.

As a Principal Social Development Specialist (Gender and Development) for the Asian Development Bank from 2010-2017, Ms. Jalal gained intimate knowledge of multilateral development bank operations in various sectors and demonstrated her ability to engage and build rapport and trust with stakeholders around various and complex issues. She was Chief Technical Adviser at the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team Office from 1995-2010.

A lawyer by profession, Ms. Jalal was a Commissioner from 1999-2001 on the initial Fiji Human Rights Commission, the first of its kind in the Pacific Island countries. She is the author of “Law for Pacific Women: A Legal Rights Handbook,” architect of the Fiji Family Law Act 2003, and was a founding member of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement. She was elected a Commissioner on the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in 2006 and served on the Commission’s Executive Board from 2011-2017. The ICJ was established to protect the independence of judges and lawyers.

Ms. Jalal earned a master’s of arts degree with a focus on gender and development from the University of Sydney, and an LLB and LLM (Hons.) in international law from the University of Auckland.

Her term as a Panel member ended on December 31, 2022.

Jan Mattsson

Jan Mattsson was appointed to the Inspection Panel on November 17, 2014. A Swedish national, he brings to the Panel more than three decades of experience in the public and private sectors, as well as in academia. His career has included operational field work, policy advice, program management, and leadership roles at the United Nations where he established robust systems for results-based management, transparency and accountability. Throughout his career he has demonstrated the ability to engage and build trust with multiple stakeholders around complex issues, risk management and innovation. He is passionate about social justice and behavioral ethics.

Mr. Mattsson held positions in several UN agencies – including the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations World Food Programme and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In his final UN assignment, he was under-secretary-general and executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services, an organization specializing in the implementation of development, humanitarian and peace-building operations on behalf of multiple partners. After leaving the UN, he founded M-Trust Leadership, an advisory firm promoting socially responsible investments and partnerships among business, government and civil society in pursuit of sustainable development.  He has a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Linkoping, Sweden, with a multi-disciplinary thesis on management of technological change.

Dr. Gonzalo Castro de la Mata

Gonzalo Castro de la Mata was appointed to the Inspection Panel on December 16, 2013, and became its chairman on November 1, 2014. He is a U.S. and Peruvian national with close to three decades of international development experience. His career includes key roles across the private and public sectors and in multiple areas of development work, including biodiversity, climate change, accountability, and ecosystem management. He has been involved in highly visible and complex international projects, including as chair of an independent panel for the U.S. Export-Import Bank for the Camisea project in Peru, and as a member of a UN review panel of the Barro Blanco Dam in Panama.

In 2009 he founded Ecosystem Services LLC, a company specializing in market-based approaches to conservation and renewable energy. Previously, he was managing director of Sustainable Forestry Management (SFM) for the Americas, where he was responsible for seminal investments that generated the first carbon credits from native plantations and forest conservation. Before SFM, he was head of the Biodiversity Unit at the Global Environment Facility, principal environmental specialist at the World Bank, director and vice president of World Wildlife Fund’s Latin American and Caribbean Program in Washington, and founder and chief executive officer of Wetlands for the Americas. He earned a Ph.D. in ecology and population biology from the University of Pennsylvania and received his M.A. and B.A. from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru.

Dr. Zeinab Bashir El Bakri

Dr. Zeinab Bashir El Bakri was appointed to the Inspection Panel on September 1, 2012. A  national of Sudan, she brings to the Panel more than 20 years of development experience.

Dr. El Bakri built a broad career at the African Development Bank (AfDB), where her last position was vice president of operations from 2006-2009.  Between 1991 and 2005, she served in a number of positions at AfDB spanning multiple regions of Africa and focusing on portfolios including social development, gender, agriculture and agro-industry, climate change and governance.

After leaving AfDB, she was appointed director of the Delivery Unit for the Office of His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait, responsible for ensuring delivery of reform initiatives. Dr. El Bakri’s time at AfDB was preceded by an academic career at the University of Khartoum, where she was senior lecturer in anthropology and sociology and also managed the Women and Development Programme of the Development Studies and Research Center. Her early career included a number of consultancies within the United Nations system, philanthropy and international non-governmental organizations.

Throughout her career, Dr. El Bakri has worked on evaluation issues based on meticulous attention to facts. Her work at AfDB included service on the Board Committee on Development Effectiveness and responsibility for management responses to independent evaluations within her sectors. She was also responsible for establishing AfDB’s Governance, Economic and Financial Reforms Department.

Dr. El Bakri holds a Ph.D. in sociology and anthropology from Hull University and received her M.A. and B.A. in sociology from the American University in Cairo.

Eimi Watanabe

Eimi Watanabe was appointed to the Inspection Panel in November 2009 and served until October 31, 2014. Sheassumed the responsibility of a Chair on May 1, 2013 and remained in this capacity till the end of her term.

A Japanese national, Eimi Watanabe has over 30 years of experience in development. A Sociologist by training, she has been involved in a wide range of substantive areas, both at the project and policy levels, including poverty reduction, gender, child health and nutrition, governance, capacity development, the environment, and migration. From 1998 to 2001,  she served as Assistant Secretary General and Director of the UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy. 

Prior to that, Ms. Watanabe was UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh, and UNICEF Representative in India. Recently she has served as a member of the Strategic and Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

Throughout her career, Ms. Watanabe has demonstrated a commitment to applying analytical as well as participatory approaches to development programs, and she has a strong record of experience in working collaboratively with civil society organizations, governments, and other development organizations.

Ms. Watanabe earned a PhD from the London School of Economics and received her BA in Sociology from the International Christian University in Tokyo.

Alf Jerve

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.

Roberto Lenton

Mr. Lenton, and Argentinian national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in September 2007, and served as Chair from 2009 to 2012. 

He is currently a founding executive director of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska. A specialist in water resources and sustainable development, Robert Lenton has more than 40 years of international experience in the field. 

Mr. Lenton has served as Adjunct Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and he was Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. He is Chair of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and Member of the Board of Directors of WaterAid America. He has served on several councils, and was Director of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Division of the UNDP. He is author and co-editor of related publications. He earned a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Buenos Aires, and has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Werner Kiene

Mr. Kiene, an Austrian national, was appointed to the Panel in 2004, and served as Chair from 2007 to 2009.
 
Most recently, he had served as the Panel Chairperson of Compliance Review at the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank. Mr. Kiene has held leadership positions with the Ford Foundation, German Development Assistance and the United Nations. In 1994, Mr. Kiene became the founding Director of the Office of Evaluation of the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP). He was the UN coordinator in Bangladesh, and later on the UN WFP representative in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Kiene’s focus has been on the design, implementation and assessment of sustainable development initiatives as well as on the governance structures and accountability required to ensure their success. His professional work and writings have dealt with issues of rural poverty and social services delivery; food security, agricultural and regional development; emergency support and humanitarian assistance; international trade and international relations.

Mr. Kiene has been involved in a number of professional organizations. He holds a Master’s of Science Degree and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

Tongroj Onchan

Mr. Onchan, a national of Thailand, served as a Panel Member from 2003 to 2008. 

Mr. Onchan taught at the Faculty of Economics of Kasetsart University in Thailand for 26 years, including a term as Dean. He served as Vice President of Huachiew Chalermprakiat University, and later on, joined the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) as Vice President, and became TEI’s President in 1998. He was appointed President of the Mekong Environment and Resource Institute (MERI) in 2000. He has served as Advisor to the Prime Minister, and to the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, and held several high-level government positions. 

Mr. Onchan has been project director of over thirty research projects, and he is co-author of numerous technical and research papers on rural development, natural resources and environmental management. He sits on many editorial boards, and has been a consultant for many international organizations. Currently, he serves as a chairman of the Board of Directors of the MERI, member of National Research Council for Economics, and a Director of the International Global Environment Strategy (IGES) based in Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.

Edith Brown Weiss

Ms. Brown Weiss, a US national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 2002, and served as Chair from 2003 to 2007.

Ms. Brown Weiss has been a board member, trustee, and legal advisor for a number of environmental commissions and councils, and she sat on the Board of some. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. She served as President of the American Society of International Law, and she was Associate General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she established the Division of International Law.

Ms. Brown Weiss has taught and published widely on issues of international law and global policies, including environmental and compliance issues. She is the Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she has been on the faculty since 1978, and has directed international multi-disciplinary research projects. She taught at Princeton University. Ms. Brown Weiss has won many prizes for her work, books and articles. She sits on several editorial boards, including the American Journal of International Law and the Journal of International Economic Law. She received a BA from Stanford University, and she holds a LL.B. (J.D.) from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She has an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Ms. Maartje van Putten

Ms. Maartje van Putten, a Dutch national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 1999 and served to 2004.

Previously, Ms. van Putten was a member of the European Parliament. She has extensive exposure to developing countries, and is active with non-governmental organizations and extremely committed to the cause of development. She has been a highly active member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation. Ms. van Putten has produced many reports on the effects of the GATT/Uruguay Round on the developing countries, fair trade, development aid for Asia and Latin America, the EU program for tropical forests and European policies towards indigenous peoples. Ms. van Putten has closely worked with the WWF European Policy Office as a key political partner to promote better EU conservation and sustainable development policies. She was also a consistently active member of the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group)-European Union Joint Assembly. Ms. van Putten was a freelance multimedia journalist for most of her professional career, and was a Senior Fellow of the Evert Vermeer Foundation from 1981 to 1989.

Ms. van Putten holds a HBO (Bachelor’s) Degree in community development from Sociale Academy Amsterdam, and a Master's Degree in social sector management from Protestantse Voortgezette Opleiding (PVO) Amsterdam. She is the author of many articles and books on globalization, international division of labor and on gender issues.

Edward S. Ayensu

Mr. Ayensu, a Ghanaian national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 1998, and served as Chair from 2002 to 2003.

Mr. Ayensu has held a number of high-level positions in various international scientific organizations, including Director and Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. He is President of the Pan-African Union for Science and Technology; Chairman of Edward S. Ayensu Associates Ltd.; founding Chairman of the African Biosciences Network, among many. He was Senior Advisor to the President of the African Development Bank.

Professor Ayensu is a fellow of various academies of arts and sciences. He was a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford University, and is a Distinguished Professor of the University of Ghana. He has published many books and articles on science, technology and social and economic development of developing countries. He twice received the Ghana National Science Award, and was celebrated as the recipient of the Outstanding Statesman Award in Ghana. He holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of London.

Jim MacNeill

​Mr. MacNeill, a Canadian national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 1997, and served as Chair from 1999 to 2001.

Mr. MacNeill is a policy advisor to international organizations, governments, and the industry on environment, energy, management, and sustainable development issues. He served as OECD’s Director of Environment, and prior to that he was a Deputy Minister in the Government of Canada. Among many other distinguished memberships, he is Chairman Emeritus of the International Institute of Sustainable Development. He was Secretary General of the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission), and he was lead author of the Commission's world-acclaimed report, "Our Common Future."

Mr. MacNeill holds a BA in Science and Mechanical Engineering from Saskatchewan University, and a graduate diploma in Economics and Political Science from the University of Stockholm. He is the author of many books and articles, and is the recipient of a number of national and international awards, including the Order of Canada.

Mr. Alvaro Umaña-Quesada

​Mr. Alvaro Umaña-Quesada, a Costa Rican national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 1994 and served to 1998.

Prior to that, Mr. Umaña-Quesada served as Costa Rica's first Minister of Natural Resources from 1986-1990. He is Professor and Director of the Natural Resources Management Program at INCAE, a Latin American Graduate School of Management. Mr. Umaña-Quesada is a member of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Resources Institute. He has published several books and many technical articles on energy, economics of natural resources and environment. In addition, he is a private entrepreneur in the ecotourism and conservation areas and is involved in sustainable wildlife reproduction and export.

Mr. Umaña-Quesada holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s in Economics from Stanford University. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Pollution Control and a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from Pennsylvania State University.

Richard E. Bissell

Mr. Richard E. Bissell, an American national, is the Executive Director of the Policy and Global Affairs Division at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., Chair of the Independent Review Mechanism at the African Development Bank, and Lead Compliance Officer for the United Nations Development Program Social and Environmental Compliance Unit.

He has also served as a Member of the independent Compliance Review Panel at the Asian Development Bank. Prior to his years of service at the Panel (1994 - 1997), he was a senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He served at USAID from 1986-1993, as head of policy and later as the head of the Bureau of Science and Technology, and was previously a professor at several U.S. universities, including Georgetown University and University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Bissell has published widely, in both books and articles, on political economy in developing countries. He was educated at Stanford University, took his Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.

​Mr. Ernst-Günther Bröder

​Mr. Ernst-Günther Bröder, a German national, served as the first chair of the Inspection Panel.
 
Prior to assuming that position, Mr. Bröder was the fourth President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 1984 to 1993. Earlier, he held several supervisory and consultative functions in international banks and other institutions. He was a Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and a member of the special advisory group for the Asian Development Bank. He was a member of the Panel of Conciliators for the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, D.C. Mr. Bröder started his professional career on the Board of the Bayer Corporation, and he was a staff at the World Bank in the early 1960s.
 
Mr. Bröder held a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Freiburg, and studied political and natural sciences at the Universities of Cologne, Mainz, and Paris. He wrote and co-authored several books and articles on financial and economic subjects.

Being the first Panel Member and Chair at the Inspection Panel, Mr. Bröder made an invaluable contribution to the establishment and effective functioning of this first accountability mechanism with an International Financial Institution.