Bill Clinton and Tina Brown announced new commitments to support girls and women by Newsweek Daily Beast, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Vital Voices, Women for Women International, GEMS Education, UNESCO, and Educate Girls Globally.

President Bill Clinton Concludes the Seventh Annual Meeting; Conversation between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton Closed a Day Dedicated to Empowering Girls and Women

September 22, 2011 

CGI members have now made more than 2,100 commitments, which have improved the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries since 2005, including new commitments announced at the 2011 Annual Meeting

Today’s featured participants included Kredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister, Kingdom of Sweeden; Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda; Michelle Bachelet, former president of the Republic of Chile; Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues, U.S. Department of State; John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco; Tarja K. Halonen, president, Republic of Finland; Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and CEO, the Dow Chemical Company; Bob McDonald, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Procter & Gamble; Muhammad Yunus, chairman, Yunus Centre; Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson, BRAC; Judith Rodin, president, the Rockefeller Foundation; Chef José Andrés, owner, ThinkFoodGroup;

President Clinton announced the fifth Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting to convene March 30-April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. at George Washington University

New York, NY – The final day of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative began with an emphasis on scaling what works for girls and women with a panel of experts, including Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda; Michelle Bachelet, former president of the Republic of Chile; Muhammad Yunus, chairman, Yunus Centre; and Karim Khoja, chairman and CEO, Roshan. The panel discussed how to engage boys and men as part of the equation to empower girls and women. Melanna Ververr, Ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues at the U.S. Department of State, also delivered opening remarks in today’s session.

Concluding the 2011 Annual Meeting, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was joined on stage by her daughter Chelsea Clinton for a conversation on current affairs including the Arab Spring, the role of technology in an ever-changing world, empowering girls and women, climate change, freedom of expression, and managing our finite resources with a growing population.

“Each year I am impressed, inspired, and humbled by the work of our members, who have now made more than 2,100 commitments, worth $69.2 billion, which have improved the lives of nearly 400 million people,” said President Clinton. “CGI is a powerful reminder of how much ordinary citizens can make an incredible impact and solve some of today’s most pressing challenges.”

President Bill Clinton and Tina Brown announced new commitments to support girls and women by Newsweek Daily Beast, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Vital Voices, Women for Women International, GEMS Education, UNESCO, and Educate Girls Globally. These commitments will build awareness of women’s issues around the world through the newly created Women in the World Foundation and media platform, provide professional, leadership development courses for public school principals in the developing world, and educate girls in India and Tanzania through a community school model.

Secretary Clinton, along with Chef José Andrés, announced a progress report on the Clean Cookstoves commitment that was first announced at the 2010 Annual Meeting. Made by the UN Foundation and a group of public and private-sector partners, the commitment launched the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves with the goal of enabling 100 million households to adopt clean, efficient cookstoves by the year 2020. In its first year, the Alliance raised more than $85 million.

John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco; Tarja K. Halonen, president, Republic of Finland; Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and CEO, the Dow Chemical Company; Bob McDonald, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Procter & Gamble; and Judith Rodin, president, the Rockefeller Foundation joined together for a special session focused on game-changing innovation. From portable healthcare clinics in India to smartphones that track crop prices in sub-Saharan Africa, these global leaders explored how groundbreaking new technologies are expanding global economic opportunities and creating social value.

President Clinton also announced that the fifth Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting will convene March 30-April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. at George Washington University. CGI U brings together nearly 1,300 students, national youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities. The application is now available at www.cgiu.org.

For descriptions of all the commitments announced today, please see below. A complete list of all CGI commitments is available here: http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/commitments