CBB NEWS

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Contact: Clinton Foundation Press Office, 212.348.0360
press@clintonfoundation.org

MEDIA ADVISORY: President Clinton to attend CGSGI Graduation Ceremony

New York, NY—On Tuesday, February 14, President Clinton will travel to Bogota, Colombia.

In the afternoon, President Clinton and Frank Giustra will attend and deliver remarks at a commencement ceremony for members of two Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI) job training programs. Father Camilo Bernal, Director General of SENA, and Mrs. Azucena de Benedetti, general manager for Gente Estratégica, will also attend. The ceremony will be open press.

919 of today’s graduates participated in the “Manos que Construyen” (Hands that Build) program. In July 2011, CGSGI, SENA, and CAMACOL launched the first on-site skill training and certification program for construction workers in Colombia in Ciudad Verde, a low-income housing development project. (http://www.clintonfoundation.org/news/news-media/press-release-clinton-giustra-sustainable-growth-initiative-announces-training-and-certification-program-for-5-000-construction-workers-in-colombia). The project offers 5,000 construction workers access to free construction skills training courses and certifications in scaffolding, masonry, and blueprint reading, among others. To date, the Project has trained 1,678 workers and has certified another 2,339.

The second group of graduates includes 61 young people (ages 17-29) who studied merchandising, customer service, and marketing. They participated in the “For a Possible Future” retail job training project, a partnership between the Clinton Foundation, Shakira’s Pies Descalzos Foundation and Gente Estrategica. Each graduate will be placed in retail jobs; 43 have already been placed in sustainable jobs at companies like Carrefour, Atacado, and Almacenes Exito. Their education was enabled by President Clinton and Frank Giustra, who allowed each to enroll without the $750 tuition fee. Today’s graduation brings the total number of graduates of this program to 261.

About the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative
Established in June 2007 by President Bill Clinton and philanthropist Frank Giustra, the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI) is an innovative partnership among the William J. Clinton Foundation, the private sector, governments, local communities, and other NGOs that seeks to narrow the wealth gap in the developing world by empowering the poor through effective, results-oriented economic and social development projects. CGSGI focuses on alleviating poverty through market-driven development that creates jobs and increases incomes, and by strengthening factors that enable economic growth such as health and education. CGSGI creates value by forging cross-sectoral partnerships, designing innovative programs and bringing them to scale, aligning stakeholders, and mainstreaming best practices. The Initiative is committed to assuring transparent and efficient use of resources, and integrating rigorous monitoring and evaluation into its projects.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
4:15 PM EST
President Clinton Attends CGSGI Graduation Ceremony
Skandia Auditorium
Bogota
OPEN PRESS