Paul Forrest

Chief of Party, Central Asia Microfinance Alliance II

With more than 30 years of experience, Paul Forrest has worked throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia and the United States. He currently is the chief of party for ACDI/VOCA’s $4.85 million, USAID-funded Central Asia Microfinance Alliance II (CAMFA II) project. The project increases the access of micro and small businesses to a broad range of financial services and expanded outreach to rural regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He has in-depth expertise working in all phases of agriculture, including competitiveness identification and value chain building; MFI and commercial bank financing to small and medium-sized enterprises and large-scale agriculture and agribusiness; agribusiness management; grants management; market and product development; contract farming and product sourcing; crop production and post-harvest handling; and project design, implementation, management and evaluation. Previous to ACDI/VOCA, Mr. Forrest worked for Chemonics International on a $20 million business support project in Kosovo distributing cost-sharing grants to install small-scale cold chain facilities and post-harvest equipment for farmers’ associations and agribusiness entrepreneurs. Prior to that, he was chief of party for the CARANA Corporation on a $75 million project in the West Bank & Gaza to increase employment through the expansion of high-value exports, especially fresh vegetables, herbs and olive oil. He earned his B.A. in economics from San Francisco State University, his B.S. in crop sciences from Oregon State University and his M.S. in agronomy and plant genetics from the University of Arizona. He is a native speaker of English and Spanish.