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.
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.
Hillary Clinton
No Ceilings 
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Still4Hill 