With a tip of the hat to John Steiner and Janice Hall, here are some highlights from the recent Clinton Global Initiative that struck us as truly righteous.
“I think we can say with some certainty that this mode actually does work,” President Clinton said. “People don't have to have the same politics, the same religion, or speak the same language to work togethr and to have an impact. We all have things to learn from each other. What weneed is a shared mechanism to achieve common goals.”
In 2009, members made284 Commitments valued at $9.4 billion dollars 1,700 commitments hae been made since 2005 valued at more than $57 billion.
President Clinton: “”Since 2005, it has become clear that CG has found an effective model for addressing challenges around the world. Ourmembers have made more than 1,400 commitments affecting more than 20 million people around the world. Because of their efforts, more than 10 million chldren have access to a better education, 48 million people have better healthcare, and more than 12 people million have safe drinking water. But there isstill work to be done.”
Special Focus on Empowering Women
Women perform 66 percent of the world's work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property,” President Bill Clinton said. “Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation.”
Reports show that when women and girls are empowered, entire regions see measurable results. This is especially true for economic empowerment – for example, a woman is likely to reinvest about 90 percent of her earnings into
her family's well-being, compared with 35 percent for a man. Increases in access to education among girls accounted for a decline of 43 percent in the malnutrition rates between 1970 and 1995. Investing in women's health,
especially reproductive health, not only saves the lives of half a million mothers, but also unleashes an estimated $15 billion in productivity each year.
Phi Beta Iota: Similar results economically are achieved with cell phone ubiquity; one study (London School of Business) found that for every ten out of 100 individuals given new access to a cell phone, national Gross Domestic Products went up one half of one percent. Now imagine a cell phone in the hands of every woman in the bottom billion…
