Peter Williams

President of International Institute of Rural Reconstruction

Peter is President at IIRR. For over 15 years, he has been leading projects for the private and nonprofit sector on 5 continents and has taught at universities around the world. He has consulted on programs for the Gates Foundation, UNAIDS, EU and the World Bank addressing economic development, social innovation, infrastructure financing, and global health. He also uses his experiences to advise major corporations on philanthropy and corporate social responsibility in order to achieve global sustainability targets.


Earlier, Peter was the founder at ARCHIVE Global, an international non-profit that Forbes Magazine named one of the 8 best sustainability ideas on the planet. He has been named one of Britain’s '40 under 40 International Development Leaders' by Devex, one of '25 visionaries changing the world' by Utne Reader and one of 22 best emerging social entrepreneurs in the world by Echoing Green. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, a member of the American Planning Association and lectures widely on design innovation, sustainability, and international development.


Specialties: sustainable development, crowdsourcing, corporate social responsibility, international development, philanthropy, slum upgrading, poverty reduction strategies, infrastructure development, infection control, environmental health, health systems, housing, health infrastructure design, urban health, architectural design, urban design, town & regional planning, water sanitation and hygiene, climate change

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