I traveled to NYC this past week to attend the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (www.clintonglobalinitiative.com). Timing and fearlessness conspired to help me get there on a press pass.
No more than 200 attendees were shepherded by an equal number of CGI staffers to various break out sessions where non-profit leaders, business tycoons and Clinton operatives met to talk about five goals — harnessing innovation, strengthening infrastructure, building human capital and financing an equitable future. On the day I attended, the focus was investing in girls and women.
I listened to a telelink presentation by a small-framed woman dressed in a modest sari who had secured micro finance to launch a vision business in India. She started with a pedicab and grew her social enterprise to a fleet of scooters. The premise — being able to see is crucial to earning a living wage. As a result, Standard Chartered Bank committed to fund sustained eye care for 20 million people in 20 countries by 2014.
There were a parade of people entering and leaving the stage — from Visa Corporation to FIFA to the Carnegie Corporation to Duke Energy to Procter & Gamble (even Brad Pitt and Ben Stiller got into the game). They were all there to make commitments to invest in and to lead specific projects that would help to achieve the five goals.
It was particularly poignant to be at the event with a close friend, with whom I have had a long history of taking action for meaningful change. We have marched in Washington together, bobbed about in the unpredictable seas of marriage and motherhood, and charted new courses as our lives morphed back to social and political action.
We sat together on the press dais, she was impeccably dressed staring intently at the faces on stage and I blinked through the tears as I watched story after story told by people with a belief, a plan and resources.
What struck me most about the day was not the chance to be with my friend listening to stories about women who reinvested more than 90% of what they earn back into their families (compared to 55% by men) — what struck me most was the call to action. Investing in young women reaps economic, social and political rewards for their families, their communities and their countries.
Every story was followed by an investment of millions of dollars and countless hours by individuals, communities and corporations. Check out the web site to see the full list of commitment made at the annual meeting. It is awesome in size and scope — including 284 commitments valued at $9.4 billion and projected to impact more than 200 million lives.
Action has become intoxicating to me — because it requires courage and hope, because finding the will to act is often more difficult than acting, and because if a petite Indian woman can help millions to see then imagine what you can do.
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