Dr. Lavern McFarlane is Chief Economist at the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF)
where she leads in the development and management of new and current financial
instruments, policies and tools across various thematic priority areas. As the strategic
lead for key regional innovative initiatives impacting multiple portfolio areas, she brings
innovative strategies to life in a way that enables prioritization and focuses investment
into solutions that have the greatest potential to drive impact for integration and
cohesion in the CARICOM region. She is responsible for developing various policy
options, strategies and proposals relating to integration, cohesion and development of
competitive regional economies.

Dr. McFarlane is an active member of the Management Investment Committee of the CDF
and was co-lead on the development of the Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF) – an
innovative credit enhancement instrument of the CDF, where she is currently the Chief
Underwriter. She was the strategic lead in the development of the Caribbean Community
Resilience Fund (CCRF), a regional fund focused on addressing the financing gap for
climate resilience and economic sustainability for the private sector in CARICOM and is
currently leading on the structuring of a Green Growth, Resilience and Sustainability
Facility (GRSF) aimed at targeting climate adaptation and infrastructure in the
Caribbean. She spearheaded the development of the CARICOM Cohesion Policy and
successfully negotiated the approval by the CARICOM Heads of Government in February
2020 and is integrally involved with the policy implementation.