Commitments to Action from the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting
Image via Clinton Global Initiative
Over 1000 World Leaders attended the The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 10th Annual Meeting in New York City in an effort to respond to the call, and to stand with our brothers and sisters from around the world so they do not have to face their troubles alone. CGI, hosted by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, was themed Reimagining Impact and prompted World Leaders to make Commitments to Action and tackle issues like education, poverty, the environment, and women and young girls.
Read ahead to meet the World Leaders who have committed to act and learn about their global initiatives that strive to save lives, create jobs, protect women, and ultimately, encourage changing the future.
01 | Supporting Small To Medium Sized Businesses Run by Women in the Developing World.
Commitment by Sodexo | Sodexo committed $1 Billion to creating a more inclusive global supply chain for its hospitality products, forming partnerships between its local operations and small to medium sized businesses run by women in the developing world. By working with female farmers and manufacturers, Sodexo will not only improve the lives of those women, it will boost local economies by linking up small businesses to the rest of the world.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
02 | Empowering and Developing The Next Generation of Civic Leaders
Commitment by: The National Service Alliance, Cisco, and Lumina Foundation | The National Service Alliance has joined forces with the Cisco Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Lumina Foundation to launch Service Year, a four-year campaign to encourage 18-28 year olds to engage in a year of service as a strategy to tackle the nation’s most pressing challenges, while empowering and developing the next generation of civic leaders. By 2017, this initiative aims to create 30,000 new Service Year opportunities, with the goal of creating one million service opportunities annually by 2023.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
03 | Oceanic Conservation
Commitment by: National Geographic | National Geographic and its partners are committed to expanding oceanic conservation efforts to 20 of the best preserved parts of the remote ocean over the next 5 years. In their environmental efforts, the partners hope to be able to shift local economies out of fishing and into ecotourism. The commitment will also involve releasing awareness raising documentaries about newly protected regions to garner public support and interest. Target areas for 2015 include the Last Ice Area of Northern Greenland, the Patagonian Fjords in Chile and the outer atolls of the Seychelles.
Partners: The Waitt Foundation, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Jynwel Foundation, Leona and Harry Helmsley Charitable Trust, Blancpain, Linblad Expedition, Dynamic Planet, Prince Albert of Monaco.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
04 | Building Community: Resilience in the Middle East
Commitment by: International Medical Corps | International Medical Corps is committed to expanding public health services and building the capacity of local organizations to meet the needs of refugee and host communities in the four largest refugee-recipient nations of the Syrian refugee crisis: Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey. Over the next two years, International Medical Corps and partners will benefit 100,000 people and will provide direct services to meet the most immediate needs. Additionally, teams will strengthen the capacity of partner staff so they can respond flexibly and rapidly to changes triggered by the crisis. This will include training frontline healthcare workers in emergency and public healthcare, and helping partners access the human, material and financial resources they need to respond to a variety of challenges.
Partner(s): TOMS Shoes; Procter & Gamble
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
05 | Improving Livelihoods in Post Conflict & Disaster Areas
Commitment by: The American Jewish World Service | In 2010, the AJWS committed to partnering with grassroots organizations in three countries, providing $1.5 million in grants to those working on the ground addressing each community’s unique problems. Today, the commitment is complete. In post-earthquake Haiti, AJWS partnered with local farming organizations to improve food security, building seed banks, and increasing agricultural education. In Liberia, their partner, the Sustainable Development Institute, educated forest dwelling villagers about land rights to defend them from logging companies, and in Sri Lanka their partners engaged with the Tamil and Sinhala communities to promote peace and reconciliation after years of sectarian violence.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
06 | Combating Ebola: Airlift of 100 Tons of Medical Aid
Commitment by: Direct Relief | In response to the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, Direct Relief committed to sending more than 100 tons of urgently needed personal protective equipment (PPE), medical supplies, and medicines to its partners on the ground in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Partners on the ground will team up with the respective Ministries of Health to deploy an effective distribution channel to get supplies to clinics, health facilities, and hospitals in regions heavily affected by the outbreak. In addition, more supplies will be secured in other locations as precautionary and emergency preparedness measures.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
07 | Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative – Peru
Commitment By: Goldman Sachs Foundation | In 2009, the Goldman Sachs Foundation committed to build on their global 10,000 Women initiative by joining with the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund and the Thunderbird School of Global Management to provide women entrepreneurs in Peru with quality business education and enhanced access to capital. In cooperation with Mibanco, a leading provider of loans to small and micro entrepreneurs, this training will offer more than 700 high-potential small business owners with the specialized training, access to capital, networking, and mentoring necessary to significantly grow their businesses. Today, 728 women are certified, exceeding the target of 700; 200 women entrepreneurs received one-on-one mentoring, exceeding the target of 120.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
08 | Operation Blue Falcon: Improving Health Access in Jordan
Commitment by: Medtronic, Inc. | Medtronic committed to address the heightened demand for health services and the demands on the Jordanian health care sector to deliver quality services as result of the Syrian refugee crisis. Medtronic will provide direct support to the Ministry of Health to enhance the capacity of cardiology and neuro/spine surgery services in Jordan. To do so, Medtronic staff will assess gaps and bottlenecks at Al Bashir hospital, the largest hospital in Jordan in terms of beds, to improve efficiency as the hospital admits a growing number of patients. In addition, Medtronic will provide medical equipment such as cardiac stents, multichannel ECG recorders, and bone drills, as well as renovate the ER triage area at Al Bashir Hospital, and provide medical fellowships focused primarily on neuro/spine, cardiology and endocrinology. In partnership with Americares and Jordan Health Aid Society, Medtronic will also provide direct support to communities in Jordan that require medical assistance.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
09 | Advancing Child Health Through Mobile Technologies
Commitment by: Samsung | In 2014, Samsung is partnering with the Children’s Health Fund committing to create the Samsung Innovation Center at Children’s Health Fund, a New York City based center focused on improving children’s access to quality health care. Over the next 2 years, the partners are pledging $2 million to enhance the Health Fund’s pre-existing pediatric programs with mobile technology, bringing together experts from Columbia University and over 2,000 doctors to update 50 mobile care clinics and develop telehealth access for isolated communities, allowing for both increased face to face and remote doctors’ visits for thousands of underserved children.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
10 | Start Empathy: Equipping Every Child to be a Changemaker
Commitment By: Ashoka | In 2012, Ashoka committed to launching a global Start Empathy initiative which will bring the development of empathy into schools, making it as fundamental as reading and math in early education. Through this commitment, Ashoka and its partners will equip future generations with the ability to understand the feelings and perspectives of others and to guide their actions in response – enabling them to find solutions, lead effectively, and drive change. Ashoka has now elected 15 new Empathy Fellows in the U.S. and more globally, recognizing their fit with Ashoka’s long-standing Fellow selection criteria and the powerful insights they bring to Ashoka.
Reference: clintonfoundation.org
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Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 180 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,100 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.
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