How to Achieve Sustainable Development: Local Actions for Global Change
About this Event
About the Event
- 2:00pm, Opening Remarks, Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, GWU
- 2:05pm, Author's Remarks, Samuel T. Ledermann, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Director of the ESIA Global Capstone Program, Elliott School of International Affairs, GWU
- 2:35pm, Q&A
- 3:00pm, Lecture Ends
- 3:30pm, Reception (Square 80 Garden, located between 21st, 22nd, F, and G Streets).
About the Book
“Building Leaders for the World” is on our steps at the Elliott School. Based on his graduate seminar titled ‘Achieving Sustainable Development’, Prof. Ledermann wrote a book on how to leverage the UN Sustainable Development Goals to create sustained change. Inspired by the work of the Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General (2019), provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and implementing the 17 UN SDGs and showing how local actions drive global change. Written for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, instructors, and changemakers, the book offers curated resources, discussion prompts, and practical tools for driving real-world sustainable development beyond the present for future generations.
About the Author
Professor Ledermann joined the Elliott School in Fall 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Practice in the International Development Studies program and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. Since 2022, he has served as the Director of the Elliott School's Global Capstone programand is also currently the Director of the International Development Studies M.A. program. He is an economic geographer with an extensive background in sustainable and agricultural development in Africa.
His Ph.D. research analyzed the impact of organic cotton production in Tanzania on sustainability, poverty, and inequality. In 2012, he joined the Biovision Foundation based in Switzerland. As Programme Officer, he managed a diverse portfolio of pilot projects in East Africa, with a focus on disseminating ecological innovations. In his role as Scientific Advisor, he supported global advocacy efforts at the UN and the FAO.
He also worked as a consultant on regenerative agriculture, sustainable investing, farm-level sustainability assessments, biotechnology, and global analyses of agricultural technologies for development. Most recently, he served on the Board of Groundswell International and as a member of the World Bank’s Technical Advisory Committee for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. His graduate students completed pro-bono consultancies with over twenty international development actors, including icipe, iDE Global, Save the Children, USAID, and the World Bank.
From 2021 to 2022, he led research in collaborations with colleagues out of Rutgers University under a USAID sub-award on the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural research and development (R&D) in Africa and Asia. He has published on the impact of holistic development and works closely with colleagues at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture on technology adoption, resilience, and identifying pathways for sustainable development for all.
Professor Ledermann is an affiliated faculty member of the Global Food Institute and the Alliance for a Sustainable Future at GW. Visit the companion website for his latest book - How to Achieve Sustainable Development: Local Actions for Global Change - at sustainabledevelopment.me.
This is an in-person event, with no option for remote attendance.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
