Eben Forbes – Senior Research Affiliate

B.A. (Bard College – New York), M.A. (Colombia University)

Eben Forbes is a consultant and independent researcher on urban poverty and land issues, based in Cambridge, MA. Eben has been affiliated with I2UD since September 2016 upon returning from Myanmar where had been working for 6 years, first with UN Habitat and then as a consultant to UN-Habitat, Asian Development Bank, Mekong Region Land Governance Project (MRLG), and  Groupe de Recherches et d’Echanges Technologiques (GRET). 

He began his career in New York, working for the City as a housing specialist for homeless adults. Years later he earned his master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. In 2003, he moved overseas to work with the urban poor in India, Nicaragua and Myanmar where he was Program Officer with UN Habitat’s Land Administration and Management Program from 2010-2014. He was a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2014-15 and wrote on urbanization in Myanmar for an academic journal.  In addition to his current affiliation with I2UD, he is a Board Member and consultant to the Community Day Center, a services center for the homeless in Waltham, Massachusetts.