The incredible 2007 Clinton Global Initiative concluded with a record number of commitments by various entities to improve the lives of millions of people across the globe. As you browse through the specific list, keep in mind of the good that can come from working together. Three days of meetings may seem quick, but the results are designed to have a significant impact into the future.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Clinton Foundation Press Office
September 28, 2007
(212) 348-0360
President Clinton Concludes Third Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative by Announcing Historic Levels of Commitments and Expansion
New York, NY - This afternoon, President Clinton delivered the closing remarks at the third annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. Over the past three days CGI members have made 245 commitments - commitments that when fully implemented have the potential to impact the lives of over 100 million people around the globe.
"I'm ecstatic about the work that's been done here over the past three days. We have seen firsthand that one commitment of action inspires a myriad of others," President Bill Clinton said. "The quality and level of commitments that we have seen this year are a testament to the positive impact our CGI members and initiatives are having around the world."
Examples of the impact this year's commitments will potentially have around the world, include:
8.5 million out-of-school children will be enabled to enroll in school for the first time.
50 million people will have access to treatment of neglected tropical diseases.
170,031,331 acres of forest will be protected or restored.
11.2 million people will be empowered with increased access to sustainable incomes
In addition to the long list of new commitments made at this year's meeting, hundreds of commitments were made by more than 40,000 people who visited the newly launched MyCommitment.org. Through this online tool, nearly 200,000 hours of volunteer time and close to $130,000 were committed.
To help further cultivate a new generation of philanthropists and citizen-servants, President Clinton announced that CGI is launching CGI-U, an effort to expand CGI to college campuses.
"I believe the world has never needed a community of givers more than it does today. CGI-U will serve as a catalyst for commitments of action by young people around the country to make a difference in their world," Clinton said.
Like CGI's annual meeting, the CGI-U meeting will feature panel discussions and commitments. This spring the first CGI-U meeting will convene at Tulane University with several hundred of the brightest young minds and student leaders from around the country.
President Clinton was joined at this year's meeting by 1,300 leaders of business, government and non-governmental organizations, who traveled to New York from six continents, including 50 current and former Heads of State. More than half a million people who could not be with us, shared in this experience via the internet - videos from the meeting posted online were viewed over 500,000 times.
Since the first CGI two years ago, over 400 leaders from more than 50 countries have been speakers at the annual meeting and members have made more than 600 global commitments towards initiatives in poverty, education, climate, and health. These commitments have involved more than 1,000 organizations working in 100 countries.
Recently announced commitments include:
Global Health Delivery Initiative (GHD)GHD, a partnership of Partners In Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and several Harvard University schools, commits to developing Communities of Practice with support from The Schooner Foundation. Communities of Practice will enable global health practitioners to find relevant information from the Internet and from other practitioners quickly and efficiently. This program will be the first information platform targeted specifically to health practitioners in developing countries. The software and technology developed to power the GHD initiative's Communities of Practice will be open-source and user-friendly enabling other practitioners to launch their own Communities of Practice. It will help health practitioners access and share information to help build a comprehensive strategy for Rwanda's national health care system.
Petra: Development of a Jethropha Curcus Powered Bio-diesel Project in the West IndiesThe Petra Group, in partnership with the governments of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Guyana, are creating a Jethropa Curcus powered Bio-diesel plant. First, Jethropa Curcus nurseries will be set up on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, saplings will be transported to Guyana to grow to maturity on large plantations and harvested plants will be shipped back to the processing plant on St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This commitment, besides producing a renewable fuel source, will significantly reduce poverty in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Guyana by providing sustainable employment.
Palestinian Risk InsuranceResponding to a challenge from the first CGI in 2005, the Center for American Progress, and partners, commit to creating an insurance entity to provide political risk insurance in the Palestinian Territories. This entity, the Palestinian Political Risk Insurance (PPRI) project, will help remove some of the obstacles to economic development in the West Bank and Gaza. Specifically, PPRI will allow small- and medium-sized businesses in the Palestinian Territories to better manage the risks of exporting goods, increase business transactions and grow their businesses. These enterprises represent 90% of business in the Palestinian Territories and are most at risk from the trade disruption caused by political violence.
Educating African GirlsWorking with their partners in a $15 million project, the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) will provide education to 4,000 communities in 10 countries targeting over 2 million children and young women with their programs.
Apollo Alliance and the Office of the Mayor of NewarkThe Apollo Alliance, the City of Newark, and partners commit to organize Newark's Green Future Summit, to take place in Spring 2008, in collaboration with the Mayor's office and other city leaders to identify best practices and mobilize the resources to make Newark a national showcase for clean and efficient energy use, green economic development and job creation, and equitable environmental opportunity. The aim of this effort is to ultimately engage and touch the lives of Newark's two million residents, especially those in its most economically and environmentally distressed communities.
The Good Night FoundationIn an exclusive partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and Passport Resorts, The Good Night Foundation will collect $3 per night from SLH hotel guests on an opt-out basis. Funds will then be distributed to organizations and initiatives that support the goals of CGI. The program is set to launch in November 2007 with the goal of collecting $3 million in its first year of activity.
Support for Vital VoicesVital Voices, together with partners and leading international institutions, will launch Vital Voices 2010: A Global Leadership Initiative for Women and Girls aimed at investing in women. Over the next three years, the program will identify high potential girls, women leaders, and social entrepreneurs from around the world and connect these emerging leaders across sectors, countries and generations at major regional summits. They will share proven strategies, develop an action plan for women's progress, and receive practical professional training to learn the skills they need to implement these action plans in their respective countries by 2010.
YouTubeIn this $20 million commitment, YouTube will create a special section on their website dedicated to NGOs. This will provide NGOs with branded channels, a vehicle for advertising their organization and a link to a Google checkout donation tool to allow browsers to make donations. The project aims to help NGOs reach new audiences and educate people about the issues on they work on.
Dubai CaresDubai Cares will work to provide schooling in developing countries to help over 1 million children.
The Artisanl Company NetworkFabindia will support community-owned Indian businesses by organizing groups of artisans and marginalized crafts workers into shareholders of budding local companies, and by using its access to product markets to increase sales for artisans. Over 3 to 5 years, this commitment expects to aid and support 100 microfinance institutions, 100,000 artisans.
Harnessing Geothermal Energy in Africa This $150m funded by the Geothermal Power Company of Iceland will help countries in the African Rift Valley to develop their geothermal energy resources helping them to develop sustainably. The project will invest in comprehensive research into the geothermal potential of Djibouti and if successful will build a large power plant driven on geothermal power. Providing expertise in this field will help countries in Eastern Africa to produce sustainable energy.
Global Health
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & ByersKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' 2007 commitment will triple their KPCB Pandemic Fund's 2006 CGI commitment by investing $135 million for innovation in vaccines, anti-viral drugs, and diagnostics and promoting global access to these technologies.
Developing a Meningitis Vaccine in Burkina FasoPATH will lead a $14 million commitment supported by the World Health Organization, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Serum Institute of India to introduce a new meningitis vaccine in Burkina Faso.
Maternal and Infant Health InitiativeMaureen Mwanawasa, the First Lady of Zambia, made a 5 year, $2 million commitment with a number of partners to strengthen Zambia's maternal and infant healthcare system and improve the country's health statistics. The commitment will benefit more than 50,000 expectant mothers living in Zambia's Central Province annually.
Fighting Malaria with Bed NetsThe United Methodist Church commits to donating at least 150,000 insecticide-treated bed nets in the areas of the Côte d'Ivoire that are most affected by malaria. Because The United Methodist Church of Côte d'Ivoire is spread throughout the country, it has a "ready made" system for providing education and for distributing nets. In addition, members of the Texas Annual Conference and other US church leaders will help distribute the nets throughout the country. This action will affect the lives of 600,000 people.
Make the Difference NetworkJessica Biel and her father Jon Biel founded the Make the Difference Network to allow everyone to be a "grassroots philanthropist" by creating a social networking site that brings thousands of small- to medium-sized non-profits together with millions of potential donors. Users will be able to search a list of specific "wishes" posted by non-profits and then fund those wishes. After the first year, $30 million will be donated to 5,000 non-profits at an average of $500 per month. The second year should see those numbers rise to 10,000 non-profits and $60 million donated, with a two-year total of $90 million.
Family Health International (FHI)By the year 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to more than double to 25 million. To strengthen families affected by HIV/AIDS, FHI is launching an innovative initiative to reclaim a lost generation. By better serving children and families affected by HIV/AIDS on two critical fronts, this initiative will rapidly expand anti-retroviral therapy services to treat children and expand a pilot program aimed at keeping families healthy and strong. Its goal is to more than triple its current reach by placing an additional 20,000 children on anti-retroviral therapy in one year. The program will cost an estimated $175-$200 million over its five-year lifespan.
Vehicle Leasing ProgramThe Skoll Foundation will provide credit support of $3.5 million to Riders for Health to purchase 224 vehicles (motorcycles, double-cab pick-ups and ambulances) for lease to the Gambian Department of State for Health. An additional $10.7 million is needed from a bilateral donor to cover the lease costs for five years and support Riders’ management and running of the vehicle fleet for the Gambian ministry. These vehicles will be put into the established Riders for Health fleet management system in Gambia, allowing it to become the first African country whose entire population – every man, woman and child – has access to health workers and medicines. The program will also optimize vehicle maintenance and performance and work to create a replication model for vehicle leasing across Africa, for which the Skoll Foundation has already provided a non-repayable $400,000 grant.
Technology for Rwandan Health CareAMD will work in partnership with the Rwanda Rural Healthcare Project and the Rwandan government to help build a sustainable, high-quality, rural healthcare system at an estimated cost of $900,000. Over the next three years, AMD will provide the technology, establish the management structure, and provide additional expertise needed to reduce the duration of hospital visits, enable real-time patient updates from the field, and enable best-in-class electronic medical records. This program will impact more than 1 million Rwandan citizens and will serve as a scalable model for the African continent and other developing regions.
Doris Duke Charitable FoundationThe Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will launch a new $100 million African Health Initiative to support the design, implementation and evaluation of multiple Population Health Implementation and Training (PHIT) partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa. During the next five to seven years, the initiative will provide integrated primary health care with measurable health improvements for at least one million people, sustainably strengthen health systems and increase available knowledge for evidence-based health systems planning.
Helen Keller International: Fortify West AfricaControlling vitamin A deficiency in West Africa is estimated to save the lives of over 100,000 children per year. Partnering with the Association of Oil Producers united in the Monetary and Economic Union of West Africa (AIFO-UEMOA), Helen Keller International (HKI) commitments to build on existing efforts to fortify cooking oil with vitamin A in the region by including fortification of centrally processed cereal flour (mainly wheat flour) in all eight UEMOA countries, and to promoting wide consumption of these foods by those at risk. HKI hopes to capitalize on the momentum of the regional vitamin A fortified cooking oil initiative to develop a complementary strategy to accelerate mandatory fortification of centrally processed cereal flours in the region. The regional initiative is targeted to reach at least 70% of the population by the end of the project in 2010; 70% coverage translates into 60 million people of whom 11 million are children are under five.
H.J. Heinz Company Foundation & Helen Keller International (HKI): Sprinkles® for Rural IndiaHKI and the H.J. Heinz Company Foundation are making a $300,000 commitment to distribute Sprinkles, a vitamin and mineral supplement to 6.5 million children in India, providing the necessary iron, iodine and vitamin A for a healthy diet. This is a pilot project that will hopefully provide a model for states in India to distribute multi-micronutrients in a national effort to fight iron-deficiency anemia.
Global Health Technologies InstituteRice University is committing $100 million over 10 years for the creation of a Global Health Technologies Institute, integrating academic resources in science, medicine, engineering, public policy, and the humanities to solve pressing global health problems. The Institute will combine highly-respected research programs spanning many disciplines and encourage innovative and entrepreneurial problem-solving to help achieve the health-related UN Millennium Development Goals.
Global Alliance for Improved NutritionGlobal Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) commits to create a Premix Fund, at a cost of $100 million, designed to reduce malnutrition by targeting and benefiting populations that are most at risk to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Over a period of five years, this fund aims to increase the delivery of fortified foods to ensure essential vitamins and minerals reach populations most at risk of deficiencies, particularly women and children. The fund will also establish a mechanism that ensures a smooth and uninterrupted flow of premix for the implementation of food fortification programs. It is anticipated that the fund will reach 300 million individuals with fortified food.
Plaza SésamoIn a $2 million, three-year project with the Sesame Workshop the World Heart Foundation will produce Plaza Sésamo, a Spanish-language version of Sesame Street targeted at children to promote healthy eating and living in Colombia. The program will be targeted at children aged three to six years old and will emphasize the importance of a good diet, physical activity, and an understanding of the human body, especially the heart.
Education
Read India and Book for Every Child CampaignIn this three year, $36 million project, Pratham has committed to increase the scale of the Read India initiative which seeks to increase literacy and numeracy levels in India. Additionally, the project will increase efforts to mobilize volunteers in villages to help children read. Pratham also announced the creation of the Book for Every Child campaign which aims to ensure every Indian child aged 5-10 years is given a book.
Teachers as LeadersDeutsche Bank will establish a Teachers as Leaders program, which will incorporate structured apprenticeships, mentoring, skills development and scholarships for students in urban centers in the US, beginning in New York City and continuing elsewhere in the world, including post-conflict nations. The program's initial activity will develop evidence-based, policy-oriented solutions to the lack of representation by black men at crucial points in the education system to serve as academic role models. The first phase will launch in January 2008 in partnership with 5 City University of New York colleges.
Participant ProductionsTogether with the International Rescue Committee and Afghanistan Relief Organization, Participant Productions will work with the Ministry of Education to provide traditional and non-traditional training programs to 1,000 Afghani teachers. Inspired by Khaled Hosseini's book of the same name, The Kite Runner, the Teacher Training Initiative will, in addition to training, provide rural outreach and the establishment of an educational training center.
Patrick Awuah/Ashesi UniversityAshesi University's mission is to train a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders in Africa by championing the liberal arts method of higher education. In this $7.2 million commitment, they are building a permanent campus in Accra, Ghana that will allow them to double their enrollment to 600 students and hope to spread the ethical and critical thinking skills of liberal arts education across sub-Saharan Africa by building a network of campuses and inspiring already established universities to adopt their model.
Project GRAD Growth CampaignGRAD commits to build on its past success in Houston and Atlanta by expanding to low-income areas in New Orleans, Philadelphia and Long Island. GRAD currently serves over 68,000 students in grades K-12 providing curricular, methodological, school and family support programs as well as over 6,000 scholarships. During the first year of the expanded program, GRAD expects to add an additional 16,000 scholarships as well as higher education opportunities in more than 100 colleges and universities.
Princeton-Brown-Dillard PartnershipThis commitment is the first example of a high-level partnership formed between relatively wealthy educational institutions and a relatively poor one. Brown University, in partnership with Princeton University, will give much needed academic, administrative, technical and consulting assistance to support Dillard University in New Orleans. Dillard University, a historically black institution, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This commitment will directly impact Dillard's 100 person faculty, as well as the more than 1,100 students currently enrolled.
Goldman Sachs & SeaChange Goldman Sachs has committed $1 million to SeaChange, a non-profit firm committed to raising capital for start-up non-profits providing youth education and development.
Committee for Democracy in Information TechnologyThis commitment will lead to the doubling of Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI) outreach work within its existing network of 840 Technology & Civic Engagement Schools in Latin America. CDI will also create new schools to increase the number of people it trains in the region. The expansion will focus on investing in necessary upgrades, infrastructure, and capacity building as well as strengthening monitoring and evaluation processes by launching a new system to add a significant qualitative component to the current set of its performance indicators. The commitment will affect over 3.3 million families, including 850,000 poor youth and adults, are expected to benefit from the project.
Pedagogical Training for Mexican TeachersIn this $800,000 commitment, Worldfund will support a two week intensive pedagogical training course for Mexican educational professionals at Dartmouth College. The aim is to drive up the quality of teaching amongst Mexican education professors and secondary school teachers.
AshokaBy hosting a series of competitions to find social-based solutions to the different challenges facing education, Ashoka is creating a unique forum for innovations. Through their change makers initiative, the world's first "open-source" online community based on finding social solutions, a wide range of stakeholders and innovators will compete to find community-vetted solutions to specific problems, like providing education in resource starved environments. The innovators behind the best solutions will be elected to join the Ashoka Fellowship, where they will receive funding and support to bring their social solutions to life. Over the next three years, Ashoka hopes to elect 100 new education Fellows.
Poverty Alleviation
State Effectiveness: Frameworks for Resource Mobilization and Public Financial ManagementThis $40 million commitment by the Institute for State Effectiveness will create frameworks for public financial management to unlock hidden sources of wealth and revenue for the world's poor. These resources will be used to create sustainable jobs in energy, transportation, water and housing programs in some of the world's poorest countries.
Climate Adaptation Development ProgramThrough this commitment, Swiss Re will offer its expertise and a dedicated team of specialists to develop, structure, price and implement innovative financial risk transfer solutions, such as weather index insurance, that support adaptation to the consequences of climate change in low-income countries. They will participate in the risk transfer of such solutions, financially support related research and risk assessments, and host training sessions and high-profile events to promote the development of a commercial market for these instruments. With an estimated total value of $20 million, the program will provide financial protection against weather risks for up to 600,000 people.
Communications and Connections for the Next One BillionIn this $5 million project, the Blum Center for Developing Economies and the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRUS) will develop a new generation of cell phones for customers in developing countries. The project will open up communications to billion of people living in remote developing rural communities. This all-inclusive project will include the establishment of original and innovative hardware, software, applications, and business models for a completely new platform of communications.
Center for Women and LandWorking with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Sister Fund, the International Partners in Development, World Bank, UN-HABITAT, United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization and USAID, the Rural Development Institute will lead a $3.67 million project to establish an international Center for Women and Land. The Center will address the inequality of land access faced by women, who own less than 5% of the world's titled land. Increased access to land would significantly increase women's economic well-being in developing countries. By next fall, the Center will recruit, train and mentor professionals to help overcome the obstacles poor women face in accessing and securing ownership of land.
Schooner Foundation: Building Stronger Nations, One Woman at a TimeThis $11 million, three year project, will help women survivors of war to rebuild communities, recover their lives, and realize their potential by contributing towards just and peaceful societies. More than 600,000 members stand ready to contribute to the campaign, thereby providing humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of women.
Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement ProgramThe International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), with support from Gap Inc. and the Gap Foundation, will establish and maintain a new initiative for women focusing on education, life skills development and occupational advancement. The project was designed for future scalability and will start in India, China, Cambodia and Turkey, directly affecting an estimated 1,600 to 2,500 women over the next two years.
Brands for GoodThrough continued collaboration with the Irish Government and with the help of packaging designers, advertising agencies and PR firms the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group will invest $1 million over three years to establish a unique Heart of Africa brand to be sold in western countries. Heart of Africa products from Uganda, Kenya and Malawi are already appearing in Irish stores and the program is expected to expand throughout the UK and to Haiti.
Social-Economic Inclusions of Waste Scavengers in Latin AmericaIn this $3 million commitment, Ciudad Saluable (Healthy City) working with the Peruvian Environment Council and local authorities will create 3,000 jobs as part of their program to develop effective recycling programs in Latin America.
Driving Growth and Innovation in PPSMcKinsey commits its expertise to creating a blueprint for world business, government and social sector leaders to aid influential individuals and organizations in developing cross-sector partnerships. By successfully analyzing the nature of innovation in these partnerships, McKinsey will create a unique report focusing on the implications that innovation has for leaders from all sectors and potentially increase access to capital and economic development opportunities available to thousands of people worldwide.
Starbucks Coffee Co.To aid the emerging African coffee industry, Starbucks will increase its regional coffee imports, and set up an on-site Farmer Support Center to provide technical assistance and credit access to aspiring coffee growers. Over this two year commitment, Starbucks will double the amount of coffee it purchases from East Africa and provide $1 million of credit to farmers.
Energy & Climate Change
EnBW Energy Efficiency CompanyEnBW, a German utility company, is committing to share their energy efficiency expertise with customers to achieve sustainable reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Ceres/United Nations Foundation/Bank of America FoundationCeres is partnering with the United Nations Foundation and Bank of America Foundation to create a national Task Force on Energy Efficiency. Over a five-year period, the task force will bring business leaders together with consumers, labor, and environmental groups to build awareness and catalyze increased deployment of energy efficiency goals. A major component of this work will be the development and implementation of innovative policies that, by changing the relationship between public utilities and their customers, permit a doubling of the rate of improvement in US energy efficiency by 2012.
Earthpark - Rwanda Forest Protection PartnershipRwandan President Kagame and the Nation of Rwanda will set aside an extraordinary amount of tropical forest in Rwanda - in perpetuity - as the Rwanda National Conservation Park. Earthpark and the Great Ape Trust, will establish a field station in the park to advance international scientific research, promote reforestation and help protect great apes.
Solar Thermal PowerPacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Ausra's $4 billion commitment will reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere by delivering utility-scale, zero-carbon power generated by solar thermal technology that is cost-competitive with fossil fuel generation. Over the next five years, Ausra will build at least 1,000 megawatts of solar power plants and PG&E will purchase at least 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal. These actions will eliminate over 36 million tons of CO2 emissions in California and neighboring states over the next 20 years.
Federal Climate Policy Portfolio Based on Scale-Up of State Level Best PracticesThe Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) will develop a blueprint for addressing climate change through federal government action. This $500,000 project, which is a scaling up of CCS' state and regional work, will seek to reduce America's emissions of green house gases to 1990 levels by 2020. These reductions will be made by implementing a cost-neutral to net positive portfolio of policy measures.
Energy for Development & EnvironmentOver the next five years, E+Co will invest $210 million to enable businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America to deliver modern energy to 17 million people and offset 16 million tons of carbon. This investment is expected to mobilize over $1 billion of additional capital for local clean energy businesses. Further, E+Co will aggregate and monetize the carbon credits of E+Co supported enterprises, share these monetary benefits with the enterprises, and offer these third-party, independently verified carbon credits for sale to companies and others wanting to achieve carbon neutrality in a way that also promotes development. This commitment is expected to produce $20 million for small, local companies in developing countries.
FourWinds Capital Management - Bio-FuelsFourWinds Capital Management, along with its local partners, will develop investment programs that focus on tropical bio-fuel production projects that maximize environmental and social welfare. The goal of the $300 million program is to establish an eco-integration program in which local communities participate at all levels in the planting, harvesting, and processing of novel sources of bio-fuels using emerging technologies that offer significant environmental and social benefits in addition to alternative energy sources.
FourWinds Capital Management - Environmental InfrastructureFourWinds will develop and institute a broad, global investment program that will assist large municipalities and concentrated rural areas in improving their environmental infrastructure, with a particular focus on waste and water management systems. Issues targeted will include for waste (sanitary landfill implementation, landfill mining, sorting and recycling, waste-to-energy and methane capture, bio-digestion, and composting) and for water (leakage reduction, pumping efficiency systems, filtering, disinfection, purification and clean water programs, waste water treatment, rainfall and runoff recovery, water table management, and recycling). The program, with an estimated value of $1 billion, will combine economic, environmental and social yield so as to produce a scaleable and truly sustainable long term model for development.
Training Chinese Mayors: Bringing Energy Efficiency to Cities NowJoint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), working with China's Ministry of Construction, will create a solutions-oriented course for mayors, including a roundtable assembly of international experts, which will be presented in Chinese. The goal is to give mayors a clear menu of possible next steps for energy and environmental change, and then partner them with solution providers.
China Lighting ConversionJoint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE) will invest $20 million over two years to distribute 10 million energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps for free in an effort to reduce green house gases, predominantly CO2. Deploying 10 million lamps would save 3.5 million tons of CO2 over 4 years, and would eliminate the need for ten 50 mega watt coal-fired power plants. In other words, an investment of $20 million effectively eliminates the need for the equivalent of $500 million investment in new power plants. Also, the commitment will create 50 new jobs, involve thousands of volunteers, and accelerate a much needed energy efficiency awareness consumer campaign in China. JUCCCE hopes to eventually scale this program to 60 million lamps.
Harnessing Geothermal Energy in AfricaThis $150 million commitment, funded by the Geothermal Power Company of Iceland, will help countries in the African Rift Valley to develop their geothermal energy resources. The project will invest in comprehensive research into the geothermal potential of Djibouti, and if successful, will build a large power plant driven on geothermal power.
Green City IndexICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) and its partners U.S. Green Building Council and CAP, commit to establishing the Green City Index (GCI) where US cities can rate certain measures, policies and actions they have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their municipal operations and communities while advancing climate protection and sustainable development. The GCI will bring greater quality control, foster a high level of accountability, facilitate prioritized decision-making, and create a clear and informed roadmap to help them track and achieve their climate and sustainability goals. The $1 million project will initially focus on the United States but standards will be developed for application globally.
The Energy Positive InitiativeThe Energy Positive Initiative (EPI) together with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Rocking Mountain Institute, OASIIS France and Cosentini commit to designing and building sustainable buildings that are practical, affordable and readily available, and that produce a significant surplus of energy for a building's everyday operations. The EPI intends to physically implement their research and development into the world's first large scale Energy Positive office building, completed in 2010, to be located in Paris. Unprecedented in the industry, one "energy positive" building will save approximately $2 million per year in energy costs, and produce 20% more energy than it uses. In addition to be energy positive the building will also be carbon neutral.
New Orleans Energy Efficiency BlitzAmeresco, Inc., Global Green, Simon Foundation and Wal-Mart will work together to reduce utility costs for residents in New Orleans. The project aims to reduce energy costs by $250,000 by undertaking a high profile three day "efficiency blitz" setting out the steps to reducing energy consumption. As part of the program 500 New Orleans homes and one school will be retrofitted, directly impacting 2,000 to 2,500 people. Additionally, ten conservation teams will provide hands-on training to community members to teach housing conservation measures like lighting and bathroom retrofits, insulation, tinting windows, and other efficiency measures.
Building the Green FutureThe IUCN-World Conservation Union, the Swiss government, Mava Foundation and Holcim are partners in this $36.2 million three year program to build an environmentally friendly new headquarters for the World Conservation Union on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The Union is aiming to set some of the highest environmental standards in the world. The new building will act as an international showcase for functional, affordable and attractive environmentally sustainable buildings.
Climate Change CapitalIn this $1 billion commitment, Climate Change Capital (CCC) will develop and launch a property fund that will invest in environmental best practice design and construction for office, retail, and residential buildings. CCC wants to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of constructing low energy buildings.
Sea Studios FoundationSea Studios Foundation will produce a $16 million integrated media initiative to help audiences understand the connections between seemingly unrelated problems-and solutions-in global health, poverty, climate change, and the environment. Using television, the Internet, and new media, Strange Days on Planet Earth "2020" will include periodic primetime television events featuring Edward Norton; an interactive Web site hosted by PBS.org, an iTunes video Podcast series, ongoing "Search for Solutions" contests to foster user-generated content and showcase high-impact opportunities to make a difference, and live screening events involving the public, business leaders, opinion leaders, and policymakers.
Offsetting CGI's 2007 Greenhouse Gas EmissionsInspired by the incredible convening power of the Clinton Global Initiative, the initial group donors have committed up to $10,000 each to ensure that the CGI meets its commitment to successfully offset 100% of its emissions for 2007. EcoSecurities is working with CGI to calculate 2007 emissions and Van Ness Feldman will assist CGI, the donors, and EcoSecurities to structure an agreement under which the donors will purchase rights to verified emission reductions from EcoSecurities' emission reduction projects and transfer those rights to CGI. This commitment will offset $150,000 to $200,000 worth of carbon emissions through May 2008.
The Following Commitments were made but not announced during CGI's Annual Meeting:
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)Over 78 million households in India lack access to electricity, causing an impediment to progress and development opportunities with a direct impact on the health, environment, and safety of millions of people. To remedy this, TERI commits to launching a four-year Lighting a Million Lives campaign based on an entrepreneurial model of energy service delivery designed to benefit both the user and the supplier of services. For instance, rural entrepreneurs can be trained to manage and run a central solar lantern charging/distribution center where lanterns are charged during the day and rented in the evening. The campaign has a total value of $30 million and in its first year aims to light 150,000 lives through a total of 30,000 lanterns spread over 300 villages.
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Pre-Mix FundIodine deficiency is the single most important preventable cause of brain damage in the world. GAIN and UNICEF have set up a $40 million partnership to tackle iodine deficiency in 13 priority countries. The program will mean a significant increase in program coverage to 90% in these countries.
Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationTuberculosis (TB) infects one third of people globally and kills nearly 2 million people a year. It has been projected that even a partially effective new TB vaccine could avert more than 30 million deaths worldwide by 2030. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commits to contributing a series of 11 new grants totaling $280 million to help fight TB. The grants focus on three key areas: vaccine development, diagnostics and drug discovery.
Project Healthy ChildrenProject Healthy Children and its partners commit to significantly reduce micronutrient deficiencies among the most vulnerable populations in Rwanda. During a year long assessment phase, the program will evaluate the need for streamlined supplement programs to be delivered through public health programs. Micronutrient food fortification directly impacts five of Africa's eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and most experts agree that unless developing countries address vitamin and micronutrient deficiencies, they will be hard pressed to fully achieve the target goals by 2015.
Centro Para Los Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende (CASA)Recognizing the role that midwifery plays in alleviating the challenges of maternal and child health, CASA's commitment aims to improve maternal and newborn health through increased access to skilled professional midwives. The commitment will also ensure that women are empowered to make decisions about what is best for them and their child. The $6.5 million project will focus initially on Mexico and Central America and will impact approximately six million people per year.
Condé Nast TravelerNearly 11 million children in impoverished countries die before they reach five years old because they lack access to essentials such as clean drinking water and basic medicines. To save lives the magazine is harnessing the power of its readers and of the travel industry by creating the Condé Nast Traveler Five&Alive Fund, in partnership with Population Services International. By harnessing the power of the magazine's readers and creating fundraising programs with the travel industry, the magazine aims to raise $1 million for the fund.
Afghan Institute of Learning Education and Health ProgramIn a $5.4 million commitment, the Afghan Institute will seek to develop educational and health services by training teachers and administrators to eventually meet their own education and health needs. By the third year of the project, the Institute will provide training and supervision to 56 community health or education centers serving 75,000 women and children. The Institute will also provide teacher training to at least 1,000 teachers.
Maternal and Infant Health InitiativeMaureen Mwanawasa, First Lady of Zambia made a five year, $2 million commitment with a number of partners to strengthened Zambia's maternal and infant healthcare system and improve the country's health statistics. The commitment will benefit more than 50,000 expectant mothers annually living in Zambia's Central Province.
Micro-schools of OpportunityIn this $10 million three year commitment, Opportunity International, the Satter Family Foundation and Gray Matters Capital, will provide microfinance loans to help establish 5,000 micro-schools in developing countries. These schools are operated as sole proprietor, for-profit businesses. Schools currently operate in Ghana and this project seeks to expand the program into at least another 11 countries to reach over 1 million impoverished children by 2010.
World VisionThe Southern Africa Water Initiative (SAWI) will ensure the supply of safe drinking water and the provision of hygiene training to around 500,000 people. Part of the program will also help 250,000 people access improved sanitation systems and increase the income of 100,000 people, mostly women, through the development of irrigation systems. SAWI will be implemented in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland and at a total cost of $36 million.
International Medical Corps (IMC)IMC commits to developing a skilled, community-based network of women's health care workers able to tackle the acute workforce crisis confronting Africa's health sector. Through its Closing the Human Resource Gap program, IMC will identify, train, and deliver technology to up to 600 women from six sub-Saharan African countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. The program will create a new cadre of women's healthcare workers to refer patients to regional health centers or physicians and expand existing health structures. IMC expects to reach an estimated 150,000 beneficiaries over the course of the one year commitment.
East Meets West FoundationThe Breath of Life program will reduce infant mortality and infant morbidity by raising the standard of critical care newborns receive in developing countries. The Foundation will provide much needed neo-natal equipment and training to hospitals in Southeast Asia. A single equipment package can, on average, save the lives of 20 babies a year. The Breath of Life program will deliver 250 packs of neo-natal equipment at a cost of between $2.5 and $3 million that will save the lives of 12,500 babies annually.
Healing ClassroomIn this commitment totalling nearly $16 million, the International Rescue Committee, the UNHCR and other partners will expand their program to provide children in conflict-affected regions to create safe, supportive and healing learning environments. The program will reach over 146,000 children in six countries.
Britannia Industries Limited (BIL)Britannia aims to secure the right of every child in India to health and development in line with its corporate philosophy, Eat Healthy, Think Better. Through a combination of partnering, awareness building and advocacy the initiative will address the causes of childhood malnutrition in India; where almost 50% of children suffer from micronutrient deficiency.
Cool Globes Working in Chicago with the Field Museum, Department of the Environment and public schools, Cool Globes will launch a $500,000 program targeting 35,000 students to educate them about the importance of environmentalism. Children participating in Chicago Conservation Clubs will take part in community activities, such as establishing recycling programs, composting, planting rooftop gardens and conducting energy audits.
Brown UniversityBrown University commits to helping meet the urgent needs of approximately 25,000 children in the Providence school system who are seeking to improve their lives through education. Brown will raise $10 million to establish an endowment for the city's schools.
ERANDA Foundation: Social and Economic Development in Gandharvakottai Block, Tamil NaduLady Lynn Forester de Rothschild and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, through the ERANDA Foundation, are committing $250,000 to improve the well being and opportunity for 23,000 people living in 26 villages in the Grandharvakottai District in Tamil Nadu, India. This commitment will support the purchase of cattle, planting of trees, children education and women and fully support the Lady Lynn Joyful Home for Children, which cares for over 35 orphans. A second component of the project will develop strategies for sustainable development in the 26 villages. Plans to provide water, education and health services will be developed to allow villagers to develop a self-sufficient and dignified way of life.
Sprinkles for Rural IndiaHelen Keller International (HKI) and the HJ Heinz Company Foundation are committed to implementing the Sprinkles for Rural India project, which entails developing large-scale distribution of the multi-micronutrient food, Sprinkles, and depending on the success of the pilot, providing a model for Maharashtra and other states to participate in a national effort to fight iron-deficiency anemia. The program will extend over a 15-month period, with the pilot distribution commencing this month and anticipated to reach more than 18,000 children.
City YearOver the next four years, City Year will build the Whole School/Whole Child Initiative in New York City in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and support from AmeriCorps. It will expand its corps of 125 to 350 in order to serve 18,000 New York City public school students in low income neighborhoods by 2011.
Mexican Border SchoolsWorldfund, together with a group of Mexican NGOs and corporations, have committed to build five new schools. The schools will help to educate impoverished children along the Mexican/US border.
Associação Saúde Criança RenascerRenascer has committed $1.62 million to build two centers in Brazil, to encourage local entrepreneurs and teach them how to create new businesses. Each new center will be able to assist approximately 50 families per month by the end of its first year of operation. Renascer will also develop an endowment in order to help break the vicious cycle of poverty, suffering and illness that results in hospital admission and readmission cycles.
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)AJWS commits to supporting 26 community-based organizations reaching approximately 10,000 children and women in Sri Lanka, Burma, Guatemala and the Darfur region of Sudan. The organizations will provide direct enrollment and access to non-formal education, vocational and literacy training. By building the skills of grassroots organizations to collectively press for policy change, AJWS will indirectly impact the lives of hundreds of thousands more.
Rehabilitation of Landmine Victims in ColombianThe Centro Integral de Rehabilitación de Colombia (CIREC) commits to creating a $1 million rehabilitation center in Colombia open to 2,000 victims of landmines, armed conflict and disabled people who are marginalized from society. Importantly the center's maritime location will give residents a tranquil space in which to recover.
procter & Gamble: Safer Drinking Waterprocter & Gamble, working with partner organizations as part of their Children's Safer Drinking Water program, will provide sachets to purify an estimated 2 billion liters of water. By using the sachets, the program will help prevent 80 million days of diarrhea illness and save 10,000 lives by 2012. The $20m project follows a 2006 commitment by P&G to work with partners to provide safe drinking water and hygiene education to 1 million children in Africa by 2009.
The Tällberg FoundationThe Tällberg Foundation commits to organizing a Tällberg Forum next year and a set of other outstanding events to provide international leaders in business, government and civil society to discuss how to develop new frameworks for global sustainable interdependence.
Instituto RukhaBeginning in April 2008, Instituto Rukha and its partners comprising local NGOs, commits to provide $2.5 million to create a program to enable 100 families to build a life plan, which may involve goals such as developing vocational skills, or securing microfinance to launch a new enterprise, that will encourage children to stay in school.
AshokaBy hosting a series of competitions to find solutions to the challenges facing education, Ashoka is creating a unique forum for innovations. Through their initiative, the world's first "open-source" online community based on finding social solutions will compete to find community-vetted solutions to specific problems, like providing education in poor environments. The innovators behind the best solutions will be elected to join the Ashoka Fellowship, where they will receive funding and support to bring their social solutions to life. Over the next three years, Ashoka hopes to elect 100 new education Fellows.
Club of MadridAccess to energy is crucial to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts, but according to the International Energy Agency, 1.6 billion people have no access to energy. To combat energy poverty, the Club of Madrid commits to develop a new initiative targeting access to energy for poverty reduction. In particular, the $579,000 initiative will work to enhance innovation, leadership and collaboration. This project has the potential of reaching thousands of people through improved government strategies for expanding access to clean energy.
Ntombizethu NgcezaThis commitment will create a support group for 10 orphaned girls in South Africa. The support group will meet with a counselor from the Ubuntu Education Fund after each meeting.
InterActionIn this $7 million project, InterAction-the largest coalition of US-based international NGOs-will focus on aggregating the contributions of the NGO community towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. They will advocate for a Cabinet-level US Department of Development and Humanitarian Assistance. InterAction commits to be the voice and prime representative of US international NGOs in building alliances and common agendas with NGO networks and strategic partners around the world.
Institute for Global LeadershipThe Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) at Tufts University commits $250,000 over five years to its new EMPOWER program and $75,000, through its Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program, to hold a four-day symposium on "Global Poverty and Inequality" on the Tufts campus. EMPOWER will provide students with an educational platform to understand and experience how social entrepreneurs are able to conceptualize and apply innovative management and organizational practices and financial tools to empower disadvantaged individuals and communities throughout the world.
West Africa Health Education Campus Working with Western African governments, foundations, associations and universities, the World Bank will lead a $45 million effort to create a multi-country West Africa Health Education Campus. The Campus will twin with North American universities with the long term aim of rebuilding health education systems in Liberia and Sierra Leone and strengthening capacity in Ghana and Nigeria. The scaling up for health education in these countries will result in significant long-term health improvements and more effective spending of development aid.
Symbiotics In a project worth between $3-5 million, Symbiotics LLC, a procter & Gamble subsidiary, will work with the Nigerian government, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the World Bank to tackle chronic vitamin and mineral malnutrition in Nigeria. Symbiotics will manufacture a vitamin and mineral fortified drink in the country to reduce malnutrition in affected groups.
Management Education & Research Consortium (MERC)MERC commits to strengthening human resources for health by improving management and leadership in the health sector. To achieve its objectives, MER.C will work with African business schools to build capacity in delivering leadership and management training programs for health workers. This is an innovative program that will build a bridge between the health sector, which urgently needs management and leadership capacity, and local business schools, which can effectively deliver the much needed skills.
Children ActionChildren Action, in partnership with the University Hospitals of Geneva, will develop a new unit to improve access to psychiatric care for teenagers reluctant to face hospitalization. They will establish a therapy unit to compliment its existing unit for suicidal teenagers. Through the creation of such services, teenagers will be able to receive daily care without interrupting their actives and current commitments.
The Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, TB and MalariaAn estimated 650,000 people in China are living with HIV and the proportion of new infections increased from 30.9% in 2004 to 43.6% in 2006. To raise awareness of HIV in China and reduce the stigma and discrimination surrounding the disease, GBC commits to launching the China AIDS Media Partnership. The partnership will, over a three-year period, mobilize the mass media and commercial marketing working with government and non-profit groups. The program will launch with the development and distribution of two HIV/AIDS public service announcements, which will potentially reach an audience of 741 million people.
BIO Ventures for Global HealthBIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) commits $850,000 to strengthen and expand its partnering efforts disseminating vital information about scientific research projects. To achieve this, BVGH will launch its Innovation Map, which will assist biotechnology companies to identify research and development opportunities in the areas of malaria, tuberculosis and three trypanosomal diseases, at a global health conference in late 2007.
Implementing Effective Malaria Vaccine CampaignsPATH will work with the US Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in a $600,000 program to help seven sub-Saharan countries develop a framework to make effective decisions to implement malaria vaccine campaigns.
Global Health Delivery Initiative (GHD)GHD commits to developing Communities of Practice, which will enable global health practitioners to find relevant information from the Internet and practitioners quickly and efficiently. This program will be the first information platform targeted specifically at health practitioners in developing countries. The software and technology developed to power the GHD initiative will be open-source and user-friendly enabling other practitioners to launch their own Communities of Practice.
Support for Sesame Street NigeriaShell Petroleum Development Company has committed more than $5 million to fund the development of Sesame Street Nigeria over the next five years.
Sesame Street AfghanistanSesame Street Workshop has committed $4 million over three years to launch Sesame Street Afghanistan, an educational initiative combing radio, television and community outreach. The project will provide Afghani children with basic educational and emotional skills.
Takalani Sesame Expansion for Southern AfricaIn a commitment totalling nearly $3.5 million, Sesame Workshop together with South African Takalani Sesame partners, will make their library of television and educational outreach materials available to development, education, government and private sector partners in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.
Liquidnet HoldingsLiquidnet has committed one per cent of its revenues toward its global social engagement work. The majority of this one percent commitment is directed towards supporting the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), for a total gift to the ASYV of $1,875,000 in 2007 alone. ASYV offers a safe and structured community for children orphaned by the genocide in Rwanda.
English Lessons for Spanish Speaking ImmigrantsIn this $500,000 commitment Fundacion Azteca America (FAzA), in partnership with Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and Azteca America will air a one hour weekly program on Azteca America national television network. The program will help the growing number of Mexicans living in the US to improve their English and to become more economically integrated.
Rockwall Foundation The Rockwall Foundation and Search for Common Ground will develop a national communications campaign in Nepal to support the ongoing peace process and provide a vision for the countries future.
Refugee Telecommunications Connectivity GSMA, the cell phone trade association, will work to provide voice and data cell phone services in refugee camps. The development will be used in camps to support family reunification, education and healthcare.
JLF CorporationThis commitment aims to expand the Australian Toogoolawa Schools Project, which has, for the past decade, focused on boys aged between 12 and 15-years of age who have been excluded from the education system. The expanded project includes new schools and the creation of a teacher-training centre.
Valentino Achak Deng FoundationThe Valentino Achak Deng Foundation will implement an 18-month, $1.2 million project to construct and administer a community education complex in the town of Marial Bai in southern Sudan. The complex will include a secondary boarding school, library, community center and sports facility. Programs will be implemented to train teachers and administrators; increase girls' enrollment and provide classes for adults in literacy, vocational training and community health and hygiene. Sites for at least four other community education complexes will be identified over the next eight to twelve months.
Abandonment of Harmful Traditional PracticesThe Wallace Global Fund has committed to help fund the expansion of Tostan's community empowerment programs in Senegal, Guniea and Gambia to eradicate female genital mutilation. The $20 million project will run over three years.
Circle of Blue: Solving the Global Freshwater CrisisIn a $25 million commitment, Pacific Institute, an online journalism and research project, plans to increase the resources it dedicates to reporting on the causes and solutions to freshwater pollution. They will achieve this by increasing their editorial resources and providing more editorial staff to cover freshwater pollution. In addition, they will develop the resources needed to present an exhibition on freshwater pollution.
ASSET4Over the next two years, ASSET4 will gather environmental, social and governance data on the world's 3,000 largest corporations, working with academics, non-profit groups and investment organizations, to prove best practice environmental performance has a direct impact on financial performance. The findings will be published no later than September 2009. This commitment is worth an estimated $10 million.
Nurture Nature FoundationThe Pace University School of Law has partnered with the Nurture Nature Foundation to create a teaching and research center promoting environmental protection. The center, which opens with a $2.5 million endowment, will help resolve "interest" disputes - those that can only be resolved by agreement or voluntary consent - as compared to "rights" disputes which address violations of law through the courts.
Mexican Reforestation by Coca-Cola CompanyThe $6.2 million Mexican program will plant 30 million trees to restore 25,000 hectares of important natural habitat with native species, helping to reduce greenhouse gases and remove more than 350,000 tons of CO2 over five years. Coca-Cola has also made a reforestation commitment in Brazil.
Aisiks Capital: Spurring Entrepreneurship in Emerging MarketsAisiks Capital will recruit five New York-based investment firms to provide mentorship for Latin American entrepreneurs who run high-growth businesses. Each firm will provide one senior associate or higher to volunteer with entrepreneurs for 25 hours a month for a year. With the support of these experts, these businesses will grow, ultimately creating jobs, wealth and increased interest in emerging markets.
University of Liverpool/Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineThe University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine are committed to conducting high quality public health research in Malawi with $16 million to finance the project. The partners will assist the College of Medicine in Malawi in a five year program to improve the capacity of faculty members to initiate and develop research by helping professional development, supervision of grant applications and joint postgraduate degrees.
Academy for Educational Development (AED)The private sector in Africa is in many cases the first point of contact for those seeking care; however, it can also be a sustainable delivery channel for preventive health and education services. AED commits to improve access to primary healthcare for over 30 million people in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan by strengthening the capacity of existing health systems targeting the private sector. The project team will design country interventions in order to improve access to health information and products with a goal of developing franchised outlets, chains of company-owned outlets, or accredited outlets.
Penn Partners in Health, BotswanaThis $40 million program will bring together the University of Pennsylvania Center for Resuscitation Science, the Clinical Center for Resuscitation and the Department of Emergency Medicine to work in the US and Botswana to reduce the number of deaths from cardiac arrests, severe sepsis, septic shock, and the post-cardiac arrest syndrome. The program will develop a model of regionalized care to ensure effective specialisation of treatment to increase cardiac arrest survival rates. Central to the new plans will be the integration of ground and air transport and physician-directed care before arrival at hospital.
Soccer-Based Soap OperasSearch for a Common Ground has a track record of producing innovative television series to tackle difficult social issues. In this commitment they will produce a series about a fictitious national soccer team trying to qualify for the South African World Cup in 2010. The program will be broadcast in ten African and Asian countries with the aim of helping communities overcome significant difficulties by working for shared solutions for social change.
Global School Feeding InitiativeThe founders of the Global School Feeding Initiative have committed to launch an advocacy organization to work towards achieving their goal of ensuring that every child has at least one meal a day and attends school.
Liquidnet HoldingsLiquidnet has committed one per cent of its revenues toward its global social engagement work. So far they have provided nearly $1.9 million to Agahozo Shalom Youth Village which offers a safe and structured community for children orphaned by the genocide in Rwanda.
Infinity Bio-EnergyIn this $400 million, eight year project, Infinity Bio-Energy will reduce the levels of emissions produced during the production of sugar cane ethanol in Brazil and other ethanol producing countries. The project will lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 16 million tons-equivalent to the planting of 106 million trees.
Hall Financial Group & Hall WinesThe Hall partners commit to helping cut CO2 emissions, employ conservation strategies and promote an economic approach in the development of their first green winery. The total cost of the project will be $2.5 million.
Verdeo GroupWorking with Clean Carbon Consulting in a $500,000 project, Verdeo Group will educate and inform US business leaders about the risks and financial opportunities posed by possible US climate change regulation. The information will be provided during two free half-day workshops to be held for US executives.
Micro-Land Ownership in India: Providing Economic and Social Opportunity for the PoorestIn this commitment that totals nearly $8 million, the Rural Development Institute together with nine partners will assist rural Indian families securing land rights for small plots of land. This will provide them not only with a place to live but an opportunity to produce food on their land from which they can make an income.
Conde Nast Travel World Savers PartnershipThis $3 million commitment by Conde Nast will encourage the travel industry to take more effective steps towards poverty alleviation and climate change reduction as part of a one day conference. The conference will introduce them to the resources and organizations to make tourism more environmentally sustainable.
PepsiCo Foundation & Oxford Health AlliancePepsiCo Foundation and the Oxford Health Alliance are pioneering a first-of-its-kind project to study the effects of community-based interventions in reducing chronic disease. The $5.2 million project will focus on three areas: physical activity, nutrition and reduction of tobacco use. Using proven, sustainable strategies such as coalition-building and education to target schools, workplaces, health centers and medical facilities in China, India, Mexico and the UK, the initiative has the potential to directly impact over around 16 million people in three years.
MM Project Consultants Pvt. Ltd (MMPC)MMPC commits to the social and economic uplift of 182 villages, housing approximately 50,000 families in the Karjat region of Maharashtra state. Working through the Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme and public-private partnerships to improve infrastructure, it will encourage entrepreneurship in this villages.
Empresários Pela Inclusão Social (EPIS)Over the next five years, EPIS commits $80 million to improving social inclusion in Portugal by increasing educational standards, particularly the performance of secondary education in the school system. EPIS will work with the parents of underprivileged children through a network of professional social organizations to improve the lives of up to 50,000 students. The methodology is unique in bringing together the local business community, the council and the schools in a process managed by EPIS social workers. EPIS has developed proprietary software to monitor online the progress of each student and school so that those schools involved in the program can be compared against non-participating schools.
Energy Action CoalitionThe Coalition commits to bring together thousands of young adults in Washington, DC for Power Shift 2007, the first-ever national youth summit to address the climate crisis, to be held in November. Participants will receive tools and training to increase youth voter turn-out and pressure politicians to offer bold climate solutions particularly around the 2008 elections. The Energy Action Coalition comprises 44 member organizations and almost 400 allied organizations and companies.
Eagle CapitalEagle Capital and its partners will build a school in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, the partners will set aside a minimum of 300 acres of undeveloped land on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on which they will develop a research center, hiking trails and an organic farm to grow high-value produce and train local farmers to diversify their crops into areas that can earn them higher incomes.
Emergya Wind Technologies (EWT)EWT will commit to develop the technology to provide a 10 megawatt wind turbine for offshore use and to formulate partnerships with governments to develop wind farms and increase its order portfolio of megawatt production by 100%.
Cooler, Inc.Cooler Inc. commits to eliminate the global warming impact of over $600 million of goods and services next year. They will eliminate over 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, enough to offset the annual emissions of 1.75 million US households over five years.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.Wal-Mart commits to reducing the water, plastic and cardboard used in laundry detergents, both by committing to stock only concentrated detergents, and by creating conditions that encourage other retailers to follow. By May, Wal-Mart will sell only concentrated detergent in all of its US stores. The impact of this effort will save more than 400 million gallons of water, 95 million pounds of plastic resin and 125 million pounds of cardboard.
The Albright GroupThe Albright Group commits to assist the ENOUGH Project on a voluntary basis in its efforts to raise awareness of the most egregious atrocities continuing to occur in the Darfur region of Sudan, the eastern Congo and northern Uganda. Members of the Albright Group will provide their expertise as diplomats and international negotiators, outreach efforts to international leaders and policy communities and follow-on implementation work to mobilize effective action against these activities.
Philips Middle EastPhilips Middle East commits to educating the public about the consequences of current energy habits in the Middle East and encouraging conversion to alternative energies and energy efficiency practices. This $1.5-2 million program will entail lobbying local governments and partnering with electricity authorities and NGOs to promote new lighting technology and set mandatory energy performance standards for new buildings.
Green City IndexThe organization, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and its partners, commit to establishing the Green City Index (GCI) by which US cities can rate certain measures, policies and actions they have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their municipal operations and communities. GCI will foster a high level of accountability, facilitate prioritized decision-making and create a clear and informed roadmap to local government track and achieve their climate and sustainability goals. The $1 million project will initially focus on the US but standards will be developed for application globally.
HERprojectBusiness for Social Responsibility working with the David & Lucile Packard Foundation has committed to deliver and facilitate health education for women factory workers. In the $2 million project more than 500,000 workers in Asia and Central America are likely to receive treatment.
Innovation Acceleration Starter-KitKao & Company is known for its portfolio of tools, practices and concepts that allow an enterprise - whether private, public or social - to accelerate innovation and better achieve its objectives. The firm commits to creating a toolbox for innovation acceleration that can be made available to all members of the Clinton Global Initiative in a digitally distributed, starter-kit format that will be made available at no cost to all members.
Expansion of Rewrite the Future: Save the Children AllianceThe Save the Children Alliance committed to helping secure the basic right to education for all children, particularly those living in areas affected by armed conflict. Between 2008-10, an additional 315,250 children will benefit directly from expansion of Save the Children's Rewrite the Future program activities, while millions more will benefit from their advocacy and campaigning.
Student Cultural Exchange programNicole and Paul Reynolds commit to provide a cultural exchange between Rockridge Secondary School students and students from the Sk'elepe and Skeetchestn Aboriginal bands to promote cultural peace, respect and understanding. The program will be open to 14-16 local high school students and those from two Aboriginal bands. The students will take part in a two day cultural exchange between West Vancouver and Kamloops.
We are the FutureWe are the Future USA commits to creating community centers in Nablus, Palestine as well as three refugee camps in the surrounding areas. These community centers will offer a safe environment for conflict resolution activities and education programs.
Workplace Program on HIV/AIDSJubilant Organosys have committed to develop a program to proactively prevent HIV/AIDS from affecting the communities in all its facilities across India.
Nobel Peace Laureates - One Voice DialogueThe PeaceJam Foundation commits to organize and record a series of dialogues between Nobel peace laureates including figures such as Shirin Ebadi and Desmond Tutu. The dialogues will be a global call to action, to encourage acts of peace amongst younger generations. The dialogues will be filmed and transcribed for a book called We Speak As One. The Fetzer Institute and the PeaceJam Foundation invite partnerships with funders to finance their projects.
The Clinton Foundation press office is available to help arrange interviews with several of the above CGI Members.
About the Clinton Global InitiativeThe Clinton Global Initiative is a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation that brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI has approximately 1,000 members, diverse and influential leaders from all over the world, who make tangible commitments to create or support projects within CGI’s areas of focus. During the three-day Annual Meeting, attendees participate in workshops and meetings focused on four main topics: Global Heath, Education, Poverty Alleviation, and Energy & Climate Change. Attendees are required to make specific commitments to address one of the topics and report back to President Clinton on the progress made throughout the course of the year. Attendees who do not make or keep their commitment will not be invited to attend future meetings. http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.clintonglobalinitiative.org&srcid=1761&erid=0 / http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mycommitment.org&srcid=1761&erid=0
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