At 10th annual CGI University meeting, continuing our work to empower girls and women

Agnes Igoye was named to the CGI U Honor Roll at CGI University 2017 for her continued work to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking in Uganda.

By: Maura Pally, senior vice president of programs, Clinton Foundation

Today wraps up the tenth annual CGI University meeting, where more than 1,200 college and university students from across the country and around the world came together at the Northeastern University for the tenth annual CGI University (CGI U) meeting, making more than 750 Commitments to Action to address this generation’s most pressing challenges.

Some of the most exciting work at this year’s CGI U meeting was centered on empowering girls and women here in the U.S. and around the world. One CGI U participant announced a commitment to increase access to STEM education for African Women. Students heard from Ibtihaj Muhammad, Olympic medalist, activist and entrepreneur, about the importance of empowering women. Refinery29 hosted a panel discussion on preventing sexual assault on campus, a critical issue with almost 20 percent of female students today experiencing rape or a sexual assault during their time at college.

Empowering girls and women was a focus area of this weekend’s meeting, and builds on over 16 years of the Clinton Foundation’s work in this space. For over 16 years, Clinton Foundation and CGI programs have helped empower girls and women around the world, from improving maternal health and creating economic opportunity, to preventing sexual violence and stopping human trafficking.

Here are some examples of the Foundation’s work:

Clinton Global Initiative

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convened global and emerging leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. From 2005–2016, CGI members made more than 3,600 Commitments to Action, which are improving the lives of over 435 million people in 180 countries. Many of these commitments and individuals have also impacted many women and girls around the world. Specifically, more than 13 million girls and women have been supported through empowerment initiatives such as job and leadership training, increased opportunity for STEM education and careers, and measures to reduce violence against women; and more than 114 million people have increased access to maternal and child health and survival programs.

Highlights of commitments that have helped girls and women include:

• CGI U commitment-maker Hafsah Lak worked with the Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit in Punjab, Pakistan, where she co-drafted the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act of 2016 and Punjab Women Protection Authority Act 2017. The implementation mechanism of the 2016 Act are “Violence Against Women Centers,” which streamline justice delivery processes by converging all essential services under one roof, and thus help enforce and deter violence against women. Pakistan’s first Violence Against Women Center opened on March 25, 2017, and helped resolve over 100 cases just within the first two weeks of its launch. It is helping women escape abusive families and find relief in a region where violence against women is rampant.
• Every Caribbean Girl: Every Caribbean Woman, a 2015 CGI Commitment to Action, made by the United Nations Population Fund, in partnership with several Caribbean nations and NGOs aims to reduce teenage pregnancy, prevent cervical cancer, and eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV across the Caribbean. In 2017, CGI hosted a convening to bring together leaders from business, government, and civil society to discuss ways to build on this commitment.
• Agnes Igoye from the University of Minnesota committed to establish a rehabilitation center for the victims of human trafficking in Uganda. To date, she has trained over 2,000 law enforcement officers on counter-human trafficking, fundraised and delivered over 90,000 books to children in Uganda, and she also founded the Huts for Peace Program for homeless women who have survived violence in Northern Uganda. For her efforts, she has received recognition from the United Nations.
• CGI U commitment maker Ryan Ubuntu Olson has been involved in several activities to advocate globally for LGBTI human rights. Recently he was a part of a team of experts who designed a Gender and Sexual Diversity Training for PEPFAR staff in 38 countries and their implementing partners. Ryan has also served as a lead coordinator of the world’s largest LGBTI day of advocacy - the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). He has worked on additional activities in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, India and Jamaica, among other countries.

No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project

No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project was launched by the Clinton Foundation with the goal of advancing the full participation of girls and women around the world. Through a data-driven analysis on gender equality, an in-depth conversation series, innovative partnerships, and CGI commitments, No Ceilings built an evidence-based case to chart the path forward for the full participation of girls and women in the 21st century. Highlights from the No Ceilings project include:

• Full Participation Report: In 1995, at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 189 nations agreed to an ambitious platform for action: to ensure the full participation of girls and women. To create a benchmark of progress and determine where the gaps remain, No Ceilings partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to collect and analyze data on the status of girls and women since 1995. Working with the Economist Intelligence Unit and the UCLA World Policy Analysis Center, we worked to aggregate 850,000 data points over 20 years across 190 countries on the status of women and girls. In March 2015, the data — and trends over time — were released as the Full Participation Report, available for download in six languages. This was covered by the Washington Post,Fortune, Associated Press, and Wired Magazine Online.
• No Ceilings Conversations, a series which has engaged over 54,000 participants in person and online across three continents to share personal experiences of full participation.
• Global partnerships and programs through the Clinton Global Initiative, including Girls CHARGE, co-chaired by No Ceilings and the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, was launched as a $600mm commitment with over 30 multisector partners dedicated to advance girls’ secondary education and reach 14 million girls over 5 years. Today, Girls CHARGE has grown to 60 cross-sector partners — including governments, private sector companies, UN organizations, and grassroots NGOs — who together have committed $800 million to reach 15 million girls by 2019. Girls CHARGE was covered by TIME Magazine and Inside Philanthropy. In addition, No Ceilings and partners Vital Voices and WEConnect International launched Girls, Women and the Global Goals, a collaboration of 30 partners from the private sector, NGOs, and multilaterals committed to close key gender gaps. Chelsea Clintonannounced the coalition including 24 specific Commitments to Action around three pillars to: 1) promote women’s economic participation; 2) address violence against girls and women; and 3) advance women’s leadership in both the public and private sectors — responding to gender gaps identified in the No Ceilings’ Full Participation Report, and aligned with the gender targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Coalition partners collectively pledged over $70 million through these commitments.

Clinton Health Access Initiative

The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), which launched as part of the Clinton Foundation, spun off into an affiliated entity and now is independent, has worked to support the health of women around the world. Building on their work to provide more affordable HIV/AIDS medication, testing and treatment of children, and treatment of preventable diseases, CHAI’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program takes a comprehensive approach to stopping new pediatric infections. CHAI supports mothers and babies “across the cascade,” meaning from pregnancy and delivery through breastfeeding and into long-term care for HIV-positive mothers and children. Unlike many PMTCT efforts that focus only on one part of the cascade, CHAI’s work is demonstrating that a comprehensive, integrated system of care will be critical to reaching the ultimate goal of eliminating new pediatric HIV infections.

Integrating support for girls and women across the Foundation’s programs

In addition, for years the Clinton Foundation has incorporated empowering girls and women across our programs. For instance:

Our Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) focuses on helping small island nations transition from expensive diesel fuel that is harmful to the environment to renewable energy sources including, wind, solar, and geothermal power. While this sector is not always somewhere where the gender component is apparent or a key priority, CCI found how we could look at it through a gender lens. We did this by launching a Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network for mid-career female employees to promote women’s leadership in the energy sector. When a woman joins the network, she is provided mentorship opportunities to women in leadership positions in the energy sector over a two-year period.

The Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) develops and operates agribusiness projects that empower smallholder farmers to increase their economic potential. CDI puts farmers first by increasing their access to knowledge, seed and fertilizers, and markets to improve crop yields and increase incomes. Since its inception, CDI has wanted to focus on and empower female farmers, who are not always the typically targeted audience. For the farmer clubs they work with, which usually having 15–20 members, CDI decided they had to be comprised of at least 40% women. Further, they have required that at least 30% of club officers and lead farmers, both of which have special responsibilities, have to be female. In Malawi, CDI partners with more than 105,000 smallholder farmers — approximately 55% of whom are female — and in Tanzania, CDI is working with nearly 4,000 smallholder farmers — approximately 50% of whom are women.

Too Small to Fail, a partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the Opportunity Institute, aims to empower mothers, fathers, and caregivers with the tools they need to secure their children’s healthy development. Too Small to Fail’s public awareness and action campaign raises awareness among parents and caregivers about the critical importance of talking, reading, and singing during everyday moments and provides them with tools to engage in these language-rich interactions.

In an effort to inspire girls and women to continue to be physically active, in May the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the Clinton Foundation shined a spotlight on the disparities between girls’ and boys’ physical activity rates and inspire a new generation of strong, active women. The #GirlsAre campaign demonstrates the myriad ways girls show their strength using the hashtag #GirlsAre, and encourages supporters to sign the pledge to celebrate girls’ athleticism and to write an empowering note to your younger, athletic self. The campaign coincides with National Physical Fitness & Sports Month in May, and has brought together more than 40 non-profit and media partners, as well as celebrity voices to inspire a new generation of strong, active women.