Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative Report January 14, 2009  |   Press Releases

CGSGI and its many partners launch programs to boost social and economic development in Latin America.

New York – The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative is an innovative partnership between the William J. 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 former President Bill 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. CGSGI is an effort to transform the way businesses do business in the developing world, by creating opportunities and models for all industries seeking to work responsibly in those regions.

In 2008, CGSGI moved from planning to implementation, and today CGSGI is working on the ground in Colombia and Peru. In Colombia, an estimated 22 million people live in poverty and 15 million lack regular access to health care. In Peru, more than 13 million people live in poverty and Peru has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in Latin America.

CGSGI’S WORK TO DATE
Since inception in June 2007, CGSGI has accomplished the following:

• In conjunction with Pies Descalzos Foundation, CGSGI began implementation of a two year, $4 million initiative that will cover child nutrition, education, vocational training, and support micro enterprise development in Bogota, Quibdó, and Barranquilla, Colombia. The combined efforts of Pies Descalzos and CGSGI will help meet children’s needs in their formative years, raise self-confidence and provide practical entrepreneurial skills. In total, 4,000 vulnerable students and their families will benefit from this program.
• Through a partnership with another NGO, Angelitos de Luz, CGSGI is supporting 30 medical missions that deliver much needed health services to people in isolated rural areas of Colombia who lack regular access to health care. Improving the general health of these communities will allow for greater productivity. Since June 2008, 17 of the 30 missions have been completed.
• In partnership with the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MINSA), NGOs, and mining companies, CGSGI is developing a three-year project to reduce chronic child malnutrition in the Ancash and Cajamarca regions of Peru, where child malnutrition is caused by poor diet, not food scarcity. This program will focus on providing household level support and education, and on training MINSA regional staff to improve implementation of child nutrition and maternal health programs.
• Launched partnerships with the Government of Colombia and NGO partners to develop sustainable, market-driven businesses in the poorest areas of Colombia. The first projects in Chocó will upgrade and expand TANA, a promising organic spice business, and organize a group of 150 fishermen in a poor coastal town into a sustainable cooperative.
• CGSGI, in partnership with Fundación Carlos Slim and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will be creating a $20 million investment fund, which will make investments in existing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are underserved by existing capital markets and are looking to expand or scale up. The explicit aim of this fund is to enable sustainable job creation and income generation.
• Together with the National Hotel Association of Colombia, the Government of Colombia and other NGOs, CGSGI is developing a local supplier network for Cartagena hotels and other large-scale buyers. Shifting to local suppliers will generate at least 350 new jobs over 14 months for residents of poor communities in and around Cartagena.
• CGSGI and Fundación Carlos Slim are supporting a project to dramatically increase the number of cataract surgeries in Peru’s underserved populations. The program will provide the necessary resources to increase the number of cataract surgeries by 50,000 over three years, expanding on a Peruvian Ministry of Health campaign for Ocular Health that began in 2007.
• In November 2008, CGSGI and Antamina Mining Company launched a collaborative expansion of the Poverty Reduction and Alleviation (PRA) program in the region of Ancash Peru. This project seeks to expand market-driven economic development with an emphasis on diversifying and enhancing sustainable economic activities in the agriculture, agribusiness, and tourism sectors. The strategy is based on the provision of small-scale business consulting services and the development of sustainable economic corridors, to efficiently link producers to markets for their products.