Olivia Caldwell

Principal, Affordable Housing Institute

Olivia is a Principal at the Affordable Housing Institute, where she is currently leading projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti and Papua New Guinea.

Olivia has been working to develop a market-driven affordable housing market in Haiti since the devastating earthquake in 2010. She is currently supporting the implementation Haiti HOME, a USAID funded facility intended to catalyze housing development and finance by working through local private sector developers and financial institutions.

In the South Pacific, Olivia is working in Papua New Guinea with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, to develop large scale housing public-private partnership models to support Port Moresby’s growing population and informal settlements.

In West Africa, Olivia managed a World Bank project across the eight-nation West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) to identify why WAEMU lenders have had difficulty expanding their mortgage lending in countries with a critical shortage of homebuyer finance. Her recommendations led to a World Bank IDA loan to the region’s mortgage refinance facility. Olivia has also led projects in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Guinea and has advised public and private stakeholders on expanding access to affordable housing in their countries.

Olivia is on the Board of Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief, a non-profit which applies structural engineering expertise to help communities before and after major seismic events. She has supported relief efforts in Haiti and, more recently, in Nepal.

Olivia has an Executive MBA from the London School of Economics, an MA in Sustainable Development from the United Nations Mandated University, and a BA in Anthropology from McGill University.