CGI 2014 wrapped up just minutes ago with new commitments. This year
there was an analysis of commitments that were not delivered along with
an announcement from Hillary of specific areas that would benefit by being addressed with commitments.
The day began with Hillary and such power brokers
as Melinda Gates, Julia Gillard, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
taking on the challenge of equality for women and girls and education
for girls - particularly secondary education which remains threatened in
many parts of the world.
http://new.livestream.com/CGI/CGI2014/videos/63004584
http://new.livestream.com/CGI/CGI2014/videos/62996756
You can access all of the videos of today's events here >>>>
The full agenda for today's events is here >>>>
The
whole family was there for the closing plenary where Nelson Mandela's
widow Graça Machel accepted her Global Citizens Award and spoke.
President
Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, And Chelsea
Clinton Call Members to Action on Final Day of 10th CGI Annual Meeting
Members made 188 new Commitments to Action, expected to impact
nearly 4.9 million people. To date, more than 3,100 commitments have
been made, improving the lives of over 430 million people in more than
180 countries.
NEW YORK, NY – Today, President Bill Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton closed the 10th
Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting by announcing new
Commitments to Action and issuing a call to action to members in four
critical issue areas: addressing energy poverty around the world,
tackling food insecurity and hunger in the United States, increasing
access to water, and responding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Over
three days, CGI members made 188 new Commitments to Action, expected to
impact nearly 4.9 million lives around the world when fully funded and
implemented.
Highlights from the final day of the Annual Meeting included:
- Featured speakers included: President Bill Clinton, Founding
Chairman, Clinton Global Initiative, 42nd President of the United
States; Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S.
Senator from New York; Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation;
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan; Cady Coleman, Astronaut, NASA;
Katie Couric, Global Anchor, Yahoo News; Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman
and Founder, X PRIZE Foundation; Melinda Gates, Co-chair and Trustee,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate, 2011, President, Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa; Hikmet Ersek,
President, CEO and Director, The Western Union Company; David
Leonhardt, Editor, The Upshot, The New York Times; Graça Machel,
Founder, Graça Machel Trust and Foundation for Community Development;
Nilofar Sakhi, Chief Executive Officer, American University of
Afghanistan; and Reid Wiseman, Astronaut, NASA , Commander, U.S. NAVY
- Melinda Gates joined Secretary Clinton to examine the progress that
has been made since the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing and what challenges remain.
- CNN’s Erin Burnett hosted a retrospective conversation on lessons
learned since CGI was founded. Participants included President Bill
Clinton, Founding Chairman, Clinton Global Initiative; 42nd President of
the United States; Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister, United
Kingdom; Ashley Judd, Actor, Author, Advocate, Population Services
International; Zainab Salbi, Founder, Executive Producer and Co-Creator,
Women for Women International; The Trials of Spring.
- The Haiti Action Network joined together to highlight the work of
the group and debate how members can continue designing and implementing
Commitments to Action that build local capacity and have clear exit
strategies to enable Haiti to prosper far into the future.
- A discussion hosted by CNN’s Sanjay Gupta discussed the importance
of investing in early childhood education and development. Participants
included Geoffrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone; Former
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Nadine Burke Harris, Founder
and CEO, Center for Youth Wellness; Cindy McCain, Founding Member,
Eastern Congo Initiative; and Rosemarie T. Truglio, Senior Vice
President, Global Education Content, Sesame Workshop.
- CGI members discussed their current efforts underway to combat the
current Ebola outbreak in West Africa and explored ways to leverage
partnerships in response to the outbreak.
- At the closing, Secretary Clinton had a conversation with Graça
Machel, Founder, Graça Machel Trust and Foundation for Community
Development, and presented her with the Clinton Global Citizen Award for
Civil Service
In the closing plenary, Secretary Clinton issued calls to action to
members to develop innovative commitments in four issue areas:
- Committing to make dramatic progress on energy access and energy
poverty. As many as 1.3 billion people around the world do not have
access to electricity today;
- Helping communities around the world get the clean water they need.
In the majority of developed countries, access to clean water is often
taken for granted, but worldwide 780 million people lack access because
of poor quality or insufficient supplies;
- Increasing access to and improving the affordability of healthy
food in low-income communities across America. An estimated 15 percent
of all American households, or roughly 49 million Americans, experience
food insecurity or hunger;
- Providing immediate assistance and strengthening health systems to respond to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Annual Meeting is sponsored by Ambassador Gianna Angelopoulos,
HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Hult Prize Foundation, Starkey Hearing Foundation,
Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Barclays, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Foundation, Monsanto, P&G,
Rockefeller Foundation, United Postcode Lotteries, Varkey Gems
Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Cisco, Goldman
Sachs 10,000 Women, NRG Energy, PWC, Blackstone, Deutsche Bank,
ExxonMobil, HP, Inter-American Development Bank, InterEnergy, Laureate
International Universities, Microsoft, Standard Chartered Bank, Swiss
Re, Western Union, APCO Worldwide, Diageo, Jive, and Knoll.
Commitments announced in Plenary Sessions today include:
CHARGE: Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education
At the 2014 CGI annual meeting, the Center on Universal Education at the
Brookings Institution will commit to create CHARGE (The Collaborative
for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls Education), a global
collective of public, private, and grassroots organizations working to
advance the “second generation” of global girl’s education. With more
than 30 partners, including the United States, Nepal, the United
Kingdom, No Ceilings, Pearson, CHIME for Change, and Discovery
Communications – CHARGE has already pledged nearly $600 million to reach
15 million girls over the next 5 years. Working to develop and advance
solutions for the most pressing challenges, the partners commit to
closing persistent gaps and improving the quality, safety, and security
of girls’ secondary education worldwide. The collaborative will chart a
new path in this pursuit by focusing on a unique five-step agenda that
will: Keep girls in school; Ensure school safety and security; Improve
quality of learning; Support transitions from and out of school; and
Support girls’ education leaders/workers in developing countries to
fulfill these goals.
Connected Women: Driving Gender Equity Through Digital Economy
Commitment by: GSM Association
Partner(s): Ooredoo, Qualcomm, A.T. Kearney
In 2014, GSM Association and its partners committed to develop the
Connected Women program to increase women's participation in the mobile
economy. The first part of the program includes a comprehensive research
project to assess women's wants and needs surrounding mobile
technology. Upon completion of the research, the mobile network
operators working in partnership with Connected Women, including
Ooredoo, Qualcomm, Roshan, and Smart Communications, will utilize the
information collected to implement programs and services for their
female customers. In 2010, research found that 300 million fewer women
than men owned a mobile phone and women are 21 percent less likely to
own a phone in low and middle income countries. The Connected Women
program will generate information about the socio-economic benefits of
greater inclusion of women at all points in the mobile industry
continuum from consumer to employee to leader, and then work with
industry players to create opportunity.
Dhaka to Harlem: Empowering Women as Engines of Growth
Commitment by: Grameen America
In 2014, Grameen America committed to opening a new branch of its
micro-lending service in Harlem, New York, pledging to provide $50
million to 7,000 women business owners in the area over 5 years. Since
2006, when Grameen opened its first New York branch in Queens, the
organization has expanded to 18 branches in 11 cities, lending $171
million to nearly 33,000 low income women entrepreneurs across the
country. Starting in October with 500 women, Grameen will provide
entrepreneurs with funding and financial training on savings, credit
maintenance and interest rates.
Rework America: Markle Economic Future Initiative
Commitment by: The Markle Foundation
In 2014, the Markle Foundation made a $50 million commitment to launch
the “Rework America” Initiative, providing technological training for
the modern business world to college age and continuing education
participants later in life. Students will have access to a classroom and
online learning environment utilizing models developed by the
University presidents of Arizona State University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, providing participants with real world skills
they might not learn in a university environment.
Ebola Response: Air Bridge Support
Commitment by: Airlink
Partner(s): Paul G. Allen Foundation; Greenbaum Foundation;
ChildFund International; AmeriCares; Direct Relief; AFYA Foundation;
LIFT; ALAN (American Logistics Aid Network); Brussels Airlines; Western
Global Airlines
In 2014, Airlink committed to transporting between 100 and 500 tons of
material aid cargo by air to Western Africa by year-end 2014 with the
help of its partners. The actual amount that Airlink will ship will
depend on the length of time that an air bridge is called for in Western
Africa before slower forms of transportation become sufficient to serve
the requirement for material aid.
Emergency Solar Lighting for Ebola Relief Teams
Commitment by: Econet Wireless Group
Econet Wireless, a global telecommunications company with operations and
investments in a dozen African markets, and its subsidiary company,
Solarway, will provide $100,000 worth of solar power lanterns (totaling
5,000 lanterns) to support relief teams working to treat, contain and
prevent the Ebola virus disease outbreak in the three worst affected
countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The solar power lanterns
will provide medical and relief workers with lighting in areas where
there is limited or no access to electricity. The lanterns, which come
with a solar panel, can be hung as room lights and provide up to 20
hours of light from one full charge. The lanterns also come with a port
for charging all types of mobile phones to support improved
communications and coordination. Econet Wireless will partner with
relief agencies on the ground to ensure 5,000 solar power lanterns are
delivered and distributed to frontline public health workers most in
need of sustainable lighting solutions.
Combating Ebola: Airlift of 100 Tons of Medical Aid
Commitment by: Direct Relief
Partner(s): Wellbody Alliance – Sierra Leone; Medical Research
Centre – Sierra Leone; CDC – Sierra Leone; Last Mile Health – Liberia;
Christian Aid Ministries – Liberia; CDC – Liberia; Africare – Libreria;
Ministry of Health/National Drug Services – Liberia; Merck; Becton,
Dickinson and Company
In response to the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, Direct Relief
committed to sending more than 100 tons of urgently needed personal
protective equipment (PPE), medical supplies, and medicines to its
partners on the ground in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Partners on the
ground will team up with the respective Ministries of Health to deploy
an effective distribution channel to get supplies to clinics, health
facilities, and hospitals in regions heavily affected by the outbreak.
In addition, more supplies will be secured in other locations as
precautionary and emergency preparedness measures.
Fighting Ebola: Strengthening Rural Health
Commitment by: Partners in Health and Last Mile Health
Partner(s): Wellbody Alliance; Direct Relief
Partners In Health, Last Mile Health (Liberia) and Wellbody Alliance
(Sierra Leone) have launched a coalition to scale-up rural Ebola
response efforts and rebuild primary health systems in two of the
most-affected countries: Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Coalition builds
on over 40 years of collective experience (including 15 combined years
in Liberia and Sierra Leone) in strengthening public health systems in
partnership with Ministries of Health; and integrating research,
teaching, and service to deliver high-quality, comprehensive health care
to the poor.
The Hult Prize
Commitment by: Hult International Business School
In 2010, the Hult International Business School committed to bring
together MBA and undergraduate business students from schools around the
world together to come up with innovative solutions to the world’s most
pressing social problems. Every year, teams from around the globe
compete to win recognition for their consulting efforts and $1 million
dollars in funding to put their project into practice. Past winners
include Cambridge University’s 2011 mPanni plan, now a functioning
company in Mumbai, India that provides mobile technology for increased
social impact to underserved communities. The 2014 Challenge was to find
solutions to non-communicable diseases in urban slums. This year’s
winner was NanoHealth, which will be awarded $1 million in start-up
capital for their proposal to use innovative technology to create
micro-insurance health networks for slum dwellers. After presentations,
NanoHealth was announced as the winner at the Hult Prize Dinner on Tuesday.
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative - Peru
Commitment By: Goldman Sachs Foundation
In 2009, the Goldman Sachs Foundation committed to build on their global
10,000 Women initiative by joining with the Inter-American Development
Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund and the Thunderbird School of Global
Management to provide women entrepreneurs in Peru with quality business
education and enhanced access to capital. In cooperation with Mibanco, a
leading provider of loans to small and micro entrepreneurs, this
training will offer more than 700 high-potential small business owners
with the specialized training, access to capital, networking, and
mentoring necessary to significantly grow their businesses. Today, 728
women are certified, exceeding the target of 700; 200 women
entrepreneurs received one-on-one mentoring, exceeding the target of
120.
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Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard plan to change perceptions of female leaders. Photo: AP
Hillary Clinton
