Posted on September 22, 2010

Commitments Totaling $2.5 Billion Announced on Day One of Clinton Global Initiative

On the first day of the sixth annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting, former President Bill Clinton said he had collected "commitments to action" totaling more than $2.5 billion, Bloomberg reports.

Nearly three hundred commitments — the highest number ever — are expected to be made at this year's meeting, which is taking place September 21-23 in New York City. Commitments announced so far include $55 million in mobile and Internet technologies from the Omidyar Network to support government transparency and economic empowerment for entrepreneurs in emerging markets; $10.1 million from the MasterCard Foundation, in partnership with Camfed, to support education and entrepreneurship opportunities for women and girls in Ghana and Malawi; and $1 million from Google for flood-relief efforts in Pakistan.

Additional commitments made on the first day of the meeting include pledges by Procter & Gamble to distribute two billion packets of a water purification product in developing countries; by the Ocean Conservancy to establish a Gulf Coast restoration center in Louisiana; and by AmeriCares to build a safe haven to protect a thousand adolescent girls from sexual assault in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

"CGI members come from ninety different countries, speak many languages, work in all sectors, and approach problems in unique ways," said Clinton. "But together, their desire and capacity to build a better world for our children and grandchildren has resulted in 1,946 commitments, valued at $63 billion dollars, which have already improved nearly three hundred million lives."