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Press Release: William J. Clinton Foundation 2009 Year-End Report


Clinton Foundation announces significant strides in combating HIV/AIDS, climate change and childhood obesity, and supporting economic development in 2009.

New York, NY – The William J. Clinton Foundation today announced wide-ranging accomplishments in 2009 in the areas of health care, climate change, sustainable growth, and economic opportunity.

Founded by President Bill Clinton, the Foundation’s initiatives – including the Clinton Global Initiative, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the Clinton Climate Initiative, the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative, the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, and the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative – work to address pressing global challenges.

In 2009, the Clinton Foundation continued to work with urgency to deliver long-lasting change and measurable results through partnerships with governments, other NGOs, and local communities, in the United States and around the world. Some highlights include implementing waste management projects in Delhi, launching the first-ever Zagat Guide to Harlem, providing over 1 million nutritious meals to school children in Latin America, helping 2 million people access lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatments, and empowering more than 2.2 million young people in the United States to lead healthier lives.

2009 Clinton Foundation Accomplishments

The nonpartisan Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) celebrated its fifth anniversary in September 2009. CGI brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, and in 2009, CGI reached new record levels of accomplishments. Since President Clinton launched CGI in 2005 over 1,700 Commitments to Action valued at $57 billion have positively affected more than 220 million lives in 170 countries.

2009 CGI Highlights:

  • CGI members made 284 new commitments valued at more than $9.4 billion dollars. In total, these commitments are projected to improve more than 200 million lives.
  • Through 2009 CGI Commitments:
    • Small- and medium-sized enterprises will receive $5.4 billion through investments or loans;
    • More than 83 million people either will gain access to health care for the first time, or have access to better health care;
    • More than 30 million out-of-school children will gain access to education; and
    • More than 7 million people will be able to power their homes and schools with clean energy.
  • CGI University (CGI U) held its second Annual Meeting at the University of Texas at Austin in February. More than 1,000 students representing 318 schools, 60 countries, and all 50 states attended. Through CGI U, students and universities have made more than 1,600 commitments in the areas of education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health. The 2010 CGI University meeting will take place from April 16-18 at the University of Miami in Florida.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association, focuses on reducing the nationwide prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States and encouraging healthier lifestyles for all children. As the Alliance enters its fourth year, the Clinton Foundation remains committed to expanding its reach and deepening its impact on this critical issue.

2009 Alliance Highlights:

  • More than 7,000 schools in 50 states now are enrolled in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program with new enrollments ongoing – including more than 3,000 in 2009 alone.
  • The Alliance’s empowerME Movement, a “by kids, for kids” initiative inspiring all kids to make healthy changes and become advocates for healthy eating and physical activity, surpassed its enrollment goals in 2009, bringing the grand total of commitments from young people across the country to more than 2.2 million.
  • The Alliance Healthcare Initiative announced its first major agreement with insurers in 2009. Under the agreement, more than 1 million kids will have access to at least four visits with a primary care physician and at least four visits with a registered dietitian each year. The Healthcare Initiative’s goal is to extend this coverage to more than 6.2 million children by the end of 2012.
  • The Alliance’s Industry Initiatives signed its first ever agreement with a food service management company, Sodexo. Through voluntary adherence to the Alliance’s School Beverage and Competitive Foods Guidelines, the agreement will positively impact schools in more than 470 districts around the United States.

The Clinton Foundation launched the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to create and advance solutions to the core issues driving climate change. CCI’s objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency, clean energy, and forestry projects around the world, focusing on achieving large-scale, replicable projects that demonstrate how targets of emissions reductions can be met in a shorter timeframe.

2009 CCI Highlights:

  • In February, CCI’s Outdoor Lighting Program, with the City of Los Angeles, announced the largest LED street lighting retrofit project ever undertaken by a city to date. The project will reduce CO2 emissions by 40,500 tons annually, and pay for itself in seven years through millions of dollars in energy and maintenance cost savings. CCI also began implementation of traffic lighting retrofit projects in Houston, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima.
  • Flagship projects of CCI’s Waste Management Program made significant progress. In Delhi, construction is nearing completion on the first integrated solid waste management system in India, covering door-to-door collection, transportation, recycling, composting, and final management of waste. This landmark project will prevent 96,000 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere each year.
  • In April, CCI and partners announced the start of an ambitious program to retrofit the Empire State Building. Through improvements to windows, insulation, lighting, and air conditioning systems, the Empire State Building will save $4.4 million in annual energy costs and reduce energy use by 38 percent. CCI has also assisted other projects that have begun or completed construction, including public buildings in Houston, London, and Seoul; commercial buildings in Mumbai and Bangkok; universities in Mexico City and Hong Kong; and housing developments in New York, Chicago, and Toronto.
  • CCI developed a nine-step framework for the creation of national border-to-border carbon accounting systems for forest carbon and began to advise national governments in Guyana, Tanzania, Kenya, and Cambodia on system design.

The Clinton Foundation’s domestic economic work began in 2002 with a small business consulting program in New York City in partnership with Booz & Company, New York University’s Stern School of Business, and the New York Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. This work has grown into the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative (CEO), and focuses on supporting entrepreneurs in underserved communities and helping low- and moderate-income families become more financially stable all across the United States.

2009 CEO Highlights:

  • The Entrepreneur Mentoring Program (EMP) with Inc. magazine launched efforts in more cities across the United States and now is working with businesses in Chicago, Newark, New York, Oakland, and Philadelphia. EMP pairs entrepreneurs running growth companies in inner-city communities with successful business leaders and entrepreneur mentors.
  • CEO continued its longstanding partnership with Booz and NYU to support New York small businesses by providing financial and operational support to companies enrolled in EMP.
  • Building on its commitment to supporting small businesses in Harlem, CEO worked with Zagat Survey to sponsor the first ever Zagat Guide to Harlem. The guide highlights more than 300 of Harlem’s restaurants, nightspots, shops, and attractions, and continues to be distributed for free online and through Harlem establishments, events, and tour companies.
  • The Financial Mainstream Program works to help low- to middle-income families gain access to safer, lower-cost financial services and support to achieve and maintain financial stability. In the midst of the economic crisis, the program increased its work with the private sector to develop market-based solutions.

The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI) is an innovative partnership between the Clinton Foundation, the private sector, governments, local communities, and other NGOs to increase the scope, scale, impact, and sustainability of social and economic development efforts in areas where poverty is widespread. Established in June 2007 by President Clinton and Frank Giustra, CGSGI focuses on alleviating poverty in the developing world through market-driven development that creates jobs and increases incomes, and by strengthening factors that enable economic growth such as health and education.

2009 CGSGI Highlights:

  • In partnership with Fundación Carlos Slim, CGSGI is providing the necessary resources to increase the number of cataract surgeries taking place in Peru by 50,000 over four years, including the delivery of surgeries in remote areas. To date more than 1,500 surgeries have been performed.
  • Through its partnership with Shakira’s Fundacion Pies Descalzos, CGSGI has provided more than 1 million nutritious meals to schoolchildren. The program reaches approximately 4,000 students daily, providing 88,000 meals a month.
  • In partnership with the Red de Mujeres para el Desarollo (Women’s Development Network) and the government of Colombia, CGSGI is upgrading TANA, a promising organic spice business in Chocó. In June, TANA received US and European organic certification for several products. To date, the number of women producers in the business has increased from 65 to 150.
  • CGSGI, in partnership with the government of Colombia, is developing a local supplier network for Cartagena hotels and other large-scale buyers. Through inverse trade fairs and capacity building assistance, local suppliers have new opportunities to work with hotel buyers. To date, $39,000 in transactional sales have been made.
  • CGSGI is working with its corporate partners and implementing NGOs to expand market-driven economic development in the Ancash and Cajamarca regions of Peru through the expansion of the Poverty Reduction and Alleviation program. More than 1,000 people have benefitted in both Ancash and Cajamarca and more than $5.8 million in incremental sales have been made.

The Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) continued its work to turn the tide of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since its inception in 2002, CHAI has worked with drug manufacturers to lower costs on lifesaving AIDS and malaria medicines, partnered with governments to build capacity of national health systems, and focused on increasing health access to rural populations and children in the developing world.

2009 CHAI Highlights:

  • CHAI reached two significant milestones – more than 250,000 children had initiated treatment by the end of the year and more than 2 million people (half of the people on treatment worldwide) received antiretrovirals purchased at CHAI’s prices.
  • CHAI achieved a 30 percent price reduction on once-daily first-line HIV/AIDS therapy and a 40 percent price reduction on the most affordable generic second-line ARV regimen.
  • Reached an agreement with Pfizer to offer a 60 percent price reduction (now $1 per dose) on a drug needed to treat tuberculosis patients taking second-line medication. This was CHAI’s first ever agreement with a branded pharmaceutical company.
  • CHAI continued to work closely with national governments in more than 20 countries to build and strengthen the systems required to deliver treatment and broader healthcare services.

A partnership between the Hunter Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) is pursuing an innovative, integrated approach to encourage economic growth in Africa and empower more Africans with the tools needed to uplift their communities. CHDI currently operates in two African countries – Rwanda and Malawi – at the invitation of these countries’ national governments.

2009 CHDI Highlights:

  • In Malawi, CHDI successfully completed harvest and sale of 380 tons of soya from a CHDI commercial farm and from 168 smallholder farm families in CHDI’s pilot year in its Anchor Farm project. Smallholder farmers in the project realized a 60 percent increase in yield per hectare and a 75 percent premium in sales price against prices offered by traders. A three year partnership with AGRA beginning in the current growing season will extend CHDI outreach to 21,000 smallholder farm families by its third year.
  • By the end of 2009, over 3,000 smallholder farm families, working within CHDI trained local community groups, had planted and were maintaining 1 million trees in Malawi, helping to build sustainable small agro-forestry businesses, helping to reverse deforestation in Malawi and sequestering 148,000 tons of CO2.

Opened in 2004, the Clinton Presidential Center (the Center) is home to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and the Little Rock offices of the Clinton Foundation. The Center also plays an active role in the Little Rock community, hosting a number of events, lectures, and conferences throughout the year. The Center was instrumental in bringing more than $2 billion in economic development to the area, including renovations of the nearby historic River Market district. This year, the Clinton Presidential Center hosted Five Days of Giving to celebrate its fifth anniversary. President Clinton delivered a keynote address to more than 1,000 guests during the commemorative luncheon.

2009 Center Highlights:

  • In 2009, the Clinton Presidential Center, the number one international and national tourist attraction in Arkansas, welcomed 302,583 visitors, a 10 percent increase over 2008.
  • During the Center’s Five Days of Giving, more than 2,800 coats were collected and distributed to Central Arkansas children and families through the Clinton Center Coat Drive. Additionally, Center staff, City Year Little Rock/North Little Rock, and the city of Little Rock donated more than 400 cumulative hours to Central Arkansas service projects during the week and more than 1,900 visitors took advantage of free admission.
  • Over 70,000 patrons visited the Clinton Center exhibit, “Space: From the Moon to Mars” this summer. Over 100 school-aged children attended the Center’s first space-themed summer camp and over 1,500 children participated in other special summer programs.
  • The Council on Foundations, in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, hosted its second national Rural Philanthropy Conference at the Center in July. Over 160 people representing dozens of nonprofits working in rural America attended the conference.

In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton continued to broaden his humanitarian efforts in 2009. In May, President Clinton was named United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti to assist its people and government as they “build back better” from recent storm damages and implement their economic vision for the future. This builds on President Clinton’s longstanding commitment to Haiti while in the White House and his work through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) – which has generated more than 50 commitments in Haiti valued at more than $400 million. This year, President Clinton took three trips and delegations to Haiti as part of his mission as UN Special Envoy.

Additionally, at the request of the Ling and Lee families, Vice President Al Gore, and the Obama Administration, President Clinton undertook a private humanitarian mission to North Korea in August to bring back Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two young American journalists. Less than 48 hours later, President Clinton returned to the United States with Laura and Euna who were reunited with their families for the first time in five months.

For more information, visit www.clintonfoundation.org.

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