Clinton Global Initiative Raises Pledges of $6 Billion Funding 291 Projects

The sixth Clinton Global Initiative closed out its meetings with 67 current and former heads of state,  more than 600 business leaders, 500 leaders from non-governmental and philanthropic organizations and VIPs including President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Queen Rania and Bill Gates on a high note, with 291 new commitments valued at $6 billion.

One of the critical differences between the Clinton Global Initiative and the World Economic Forum in Davos, also home to rich, powerful and influential movers and shakers, is its prerequisite that participants must make a financial commitment.

While there is a sense of urgency and ‘saving the world’ from itself, many of the projects funded are local and not ideological.

New commitments this year range from projects to help preserve the Amazon to getting medicine to the needy, producing science and technology kits for Mexican schools, providing Kenyan households with clean cookstoves and opening 100 neighborhood libraries in Jordan. via AP

“In total, more than 1,900 commitments have been made, worth $63 billion, and they have improved the lives of nearly 300 million people,” Clinton said in a statement at the end of the conference. About half of this year’s new commitments came from organizations and individuals who have funded other CGI projects.

About 15 projects have been dropped over an inability to complete them and another 35 others are in danger of being abandoned due to lack of funding.