Tan Sri Just Faaland was born on January 25, 1922, and died on February 17, 2017.

He was a Norwegian political economist.

Just Faaland began as an economist with OEEC in 1949.

He worked for a number of international institutions including the World Bank, ILO, IFAD, FAO, WFP, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank.

He was based as a development researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) from 1952 to 2017.

Along with the political scientist Stein Rokkan he initiated and developed broader research programs and employed more people in the 1950s and in 1961 they defined research programs in international economics and comparative politics.

During 1965, the Development Action and Research Programme (DERAP), a development economics project on growth problems in developing countries was formally established.

During the early 1980s, Tan Sri Just established a human rights program which soon grew to become the other main focus of CMI’s social science research.

He was one of the individuals responsible for the formulation of the Malaysian New Economic Policy.

Just Faaland was also the director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute and chairman of the UN Committee for Development Planning (1999-2000).

He formally retired in 1988.

He was a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, was awarded the Malaysian honorary title Tan Sri and held honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen and University of Malaya.

Just Faaland passed away at 95 years old.