Please see the highlights below of the opening day of the Third Annual CGI conference. Note come of the familiar corporate names below.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Clinton Foundation Press Office
September 26, 2007
(212) 348-0360
Opening Day of Third Annual CGI Brings Commitments in Every Focus Area Affecting Lives Around the Globe
New York, NY – The first day of the third annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) brought together over one thousand leaders of business, government and non-governmental organizations from over 70 countries including 52 current and former heads of state who attended nine sessions and made commitments focusing on CGI’s four focus areas: Education, Energy & Climate Change, Global Health and Poverty Alleviation.
In addition to announcing major commitments that have the potential to impact millions of lives globally, President Clinton announced the expansion of CGI to include MyCommitment.org, an interactive website that allows members of the public to make individual commitments.
By the end of day one, over 40 commitments in education, global health, energy and climate change and poverty alleviation had been announced. During the last plenary of the day, “Promise of Education in Conflict and Post Conflict” President Clinton announced the following:
The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict has brought together leaders of various industries to create 18 global projects that will fund educational initiatives for children in conflict, post-conflict, refugee and emergency situations. In its first year, the Partnership will work to place 350,000 out of school children in school and improving the learning environment, safety, materials and teacher quality for another 650,000 students—including 200,000 Iraqi refugees and 300,000 children affected by the crisis in Darfur.
Procter & Gamble (Pampers)/UNICEFThrough its Pampers brand, Procter & Gamble commits a minimum of $2 million to the elimination of Maternal & Neo-Natal Tetanus in developing countries by supporting the procurement of roughly 45 million Tetanus vaccines. By joining forces with UNICEF, the company will maximize its resources and provide millions of mothers and their babies with life-saving tetanus vaccines through 2009.
Proctor & Gamble: Children’s Safe Drinking WaterProctor & Gamble, working with partner organizations in the Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, will provide sachets to purify an estimated 2 billion liters of water. By using the easily accessible system, the program will help prevent 80 million days of diarrhea illness and save 10,000 lives by 2012. The $20 million 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.
1SkyWorking with partners 1Sky will raise $50 million to advocate for a simple set of goals and policy proposals to improve the federal government’s policies on climate change. All partners working in this coalition are committed to making the US government develop climate change targets that match those of the European Union. The EU is committed to reduce green house gas emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels.
Additional CGI commitments expected to be announced today include:
GLOBAL HEALTH
The GAVI FundGAVI will secure $30 million from visionary philanthropists and other donors to support the three-year Advance Market Commitment (AMC) pilot project. By committing to subsidize the future purchase (up to a pre-agreed price) of a vaccine AMC accelerates the development and introduction of an accessible pneumococcal vaccine. With AMC’s help, the market will be established, research and development costs recovered and each participating firm will continue to supply the product at a pre-determined, lower price.
International AIDS Vaccine InitiativeDesigned as a flexible seed capital fund, initially capitalized at $10 million, the Innovation Fund will provide awards to 15 to 20 biotech companies during the next 3 years in order to bring their considerable innovative technologies to search for an AIDS vaccine. Established in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Fund’s projects will extend beyond the current state-of-the-art in HIV research and into other areas of virology, immunology and bioengineering to encourage the cross-fertilization of ideas and breakthrough advances. The timing of this project is critical. HIV continues to outpace efforts to control it through conventional prevention, treatment and care: For each person who begins drug therapy, six new people are infected with the HIV virus.
PATHThe PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative has already entered into partnerships with U.S. governmental entities, universities, and private parties to stimulate the ultimate goal of developing a final vaccine. This commitment will include the establishment of several national Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) for malaria vaccines within the national ministries of health. The commitment will also support promotion of the TAGs to researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders. Countries benefiting from the project include Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
The Dow Chemical Company & WaterHealth InternationalThe Dow Chemical Company will provide $30 million dollars of loan guarantees to support the financing of up to 2,000 community water systems, serving 11 million people in India through WaterHealth International (WHI). For the past two years, WHI has provided sustainable, low cost community based water systems to rural villages in India. WHI has installed 100 systems and partners with local NGO’s to provide water and sanitation education. Dow’s commitment will help to extend WHI’s reach well beyond the current projections of 3,000 systems over the next five years.
EDUCATION
Global Fund For Children The Global Fund for Children is committing $500,000 next year to provide children’s books, photography and films to at least 100 programs serving children under 8 in the developing world. Printed materials will be translated into native languages of over 20 countries to promote global citizenship as well as literacy. Over the 10 year life of the program the Global Fund estimates that it will reach 500,000 children in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Deshpande To ensure an entire generation of Indian school children receive at least one nutritious meal every day for 220 days each year, the Deshpande Foundation commits to create a long-term, sustainable school lunch program in India. With support from the Akshaya Patra Foundation, the Government of India and private donors Deshpande will collaborate to deliver daily lunches to children from the start of kindergarten through completion of Grade 10.
Fundación Paraguaya Fundación Paraguaya is partnering with Teach A Man to Fish to expand their successful model of agro-entrepreneurial schools by opening over 50 new schools. This model focuses on combining entrepreneurial skills in sustainable agriculture with a traditional high school curriculum to create self-sufficient schools. With a total value of $25 million, this commitment will touch the lives of over 600,000 students, giving them the skills to become successful entrepreneurs.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
LaliqueLalique will establish a fundraising campaign, BELIEVE, that will collect donations from a percentage of sales revenue taken from each brand’s exclusive products and services. Funds gathered from donations will be shared with an alliance of poverty alleviation charities that relieve the substandard physiological needs of people in developing countries around the globe. Lalique’s CEO, Guillaume Gauthereau, was inspired to make this commitment by remarks made at a CGI press conference in early 2007 where it was stated that $1 in the developing world is equivalent to approximately $100 in developed economies. The campaign aims to raise $1 million to alleviate poverty.
SACCAThe South African Chamber of Commerce in America will sponsor a business plan competition encouraging and supporting African entrepreneurs wishing to grow their business off-short. SACCA also commits to sponsor a quarterly meeting in the U.S. where they will introduce at least 5 African entrepreneurs to over 100 U.S. investors. To ensure the success of these programs, SACCA commits $200,000 in start-up funding and an additional $300,000 over the next three years.
World Bicycle Relief, SRAM Corporation; Harmos, SEDA World Bicycle Relief commits $980,000 over 15 months to supply 1,000 bikes in each of seven African countries. These bikes will provide an invaluable mode of transport for some of Africa’s poorest people living in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia. In total the project will cost.
ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)The World Bank estimates that 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty depend on forest resources for some part of their livelihood. With this three-year commitment, CIFOR will spend $6 million to launch Climate Change and Forests Initiative to produce independent and timely analysis of the options for including deforestation into global and national climate policies. A key feature of its research will be a focus on ensuring that the risks of avoided deforestation (known as “reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation” or REDD) are not borne by those least able to afford them.
The Coca-Cola CompanyTargeting the State of Sao Paulo and working in conjunction with regional NGOs and local farmers, the Coca-Cola Company commits $13.5 million to a reforestation project along vital waterways in Brazil. The project aims to restore 3,000 hectares of tropical rainforest while providing local citizens with employment opportunities in environmental services. The project also aims to eliminate 30 million tons of CO2 over 30 years’ time.
The Wallace Global Fund The Wallace Global Fund, together with Acción Ecológica, Amazon Watch, Earth Economics, the University of Maryland, the CS Mott Foundation, the Pachamama Alliance and the World Resources Institute are committed to supporting the visionary project of the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa to forego development of the Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) oil field, located below Yasuni National Park, the Amazon basin’s most biodiverse area of rainforest. By motivating the international community to match Ecuador’s commitment to leave nearly one billion barrels of oil in the ground, this commitment helps preserve one of the world’s natural treasures and prevent 436 million tons of carbon emissions.
Rainforest Alliance and Gibson Musical Instruments The Rainforest Alliance will run a $480 million project over 5 years to support best practice in forestry management in 60 countries. Working with partners they will drive up the use of certified wood products in the paper supply chain and for use in musical instruments.
Make it Right ProjectBrad Pitt is expanding his commitment to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward with his "Make it Right" project to create a community of 150 affordable and sustainable homes in one of the areas hardest-hit by Hurricane Katrina. Pitt and his partner Steve Bing are challenging members of CGI to join them in rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward by each pledging to match $5 million in contributions to the Make it Right project.
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=1694&erid=0 / http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mycommitment.org&srcid=1694&erid=0
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