Claire Lyons, Paul Faeth, Tom Kalil at 2008 CGI

[left to right]
Claire Lyons, Global Grant Program Director, Pepsico Foundation
Paul Faeth, Executive Director, Global Water Challenge
Tom Kalil, CGI Global Health Working Group Chair

Press Conference: Water and Sanitation Mega-Commitment
2008 Clinton Global Initiative Meeting
New York
September 26, 2008


Clinton Global Initiative Meeting - New York 9/26/08 -

Claire Lyons, global grant program manager for the PepsiCo Foundation, stressed that clean water is a necessary building block for human life. "If we can provide more clean water and clean sanitation, we will save lives," she said.

Nodding to recent skepticism among donors about how their contributions are spent and their desire for measurable results, she said charitable causes "have to find ways to spend philanthropic dollars more smartly" and that groups pledging large donations need to "leverage it, multiply it."

Source: WSJ

Paul Faeth says the traditional top down approach to solving the global water crisis has failed, and he feels that it's time to enlist the help of local innovators. He has previously said, "[..]What we're trying to do is help communities help themselves and finding in social entrepreneurs some great ideas for doing things that no one has ever thought of before."
[source: Global Challenge website]

Tom Kalil

"Each of us has the potential to make the world a better and more humane place. Working together, there are no limits to what we can accomplish."

Source: CNN
Editor's Note: The Clinton Global Initiative, founded by former President Bill Clinton, is meeting in New York this week, focusing on issues such as health, poverty and climate change. Tom Kalil is chairman of the initiative's global health working group and special assistant to the chancellor for science and technology at the University of California, Berkeley. In the Clinton administration, Kalil was deputy assistant for technology and economic policy and deputy director of the White House Economic Council.


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Last year, 9.2 million children didn't make it to their fifth birthday. Of these, roughly 4 million children died within the first 28 days of life -- the newborn period.

Many of these newborns die for reasons that are easily treatable or preventable. Their lives could be saved with very simple and low-cost interventions. For example, birth attendants can wash their hands before helping with a delivery, and use a clean blade to cut the umbilical cord.

[read the rest here]