US$5 Million Commitment toward Poverty Eradication in India

Singapore/New York (26 September 2007): The Hunger Project and XL Group will today announce a significant poverty alleviation initiative at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual event which opens this morning in New York. The Hunger Project and The XL Group have come together to make a strategic contribution to reducing poverty where it is most pervasive and at the same time answer the call made by the former President for private sector commitment to resolving global issues.

The Clinton Global Initiative, now in its 3rd year, brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Joan Holmes, President of The Hunger Project, and Roger Hamilton, Chairman of The XL Group, will be submitting their commitment to the 42nd President of the United States – William J Clinton.

The total funding comes from the XL Group, Singapore; the implementation capacities of more than 90 Indian grassroots NGOs; and a policy-level partnership with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj of the Government of India.

This commitment brings together the financial and community strength of one of the world’s leading entrepreneur and social enterprise networks with the key local change agents for eradicating hunger and poverty in India, namely the one million women elected to local government in rural areas.

The $5 million commitment is to implement a systematic five-year strategy that will:

* Build the capacity of 50,000 elected women leaders who are directly responsible for improving access to health, education, nutrition and better incomes for 15 million rural Indians

* Mobilize local action campaigns to improve health, education, nutrition and family income in partnership with their elected village councils

* Build alliances for advocacy and action to reform policies such that village councils gain access to greater resources and decision-making authority

* Incentivize and mobilize the power of the media to create a climate of awareness and transparency in which these actions can succeed

The XL commitment comes through the creation of The XL Pioneer Club. The club’s founding members will make a leadership trip to India in January of next year to further understand the work of The Hunger Project and see first-hand the tangible results of their giving and the power of grassroots women leaders to transform the quality of life in their villages.

Joan Holmes, President of The Hunger Project “The transfer of power to one million women elected local representatives in India — many of whom are malnourished and illiterate — is the greatest social experiment of our time. These women are struggling against enormous odds to improve the lives of their families, their villages and their nation. They are the key change agents for a new future for India.”

In its role as a leading global entrepreneur and social enterprise network, The XL Group supports various nominated causes – either through direct giving or working with its entrepreneur community as to how individuals and companies can most effectively give to nominated causes.

Roger Hamilton, Chairman of the XL Group commented “The Clinton Global Initiative exists to tackle the toughest issues of our time and clearly hunger and poverty are top of that list. The Pioneer Club is about bringing practical results for real problems and we are proud to partner with The Hunger Project in working toward the sustainable end of world hunger”.

XL Group
Ian Grundy, Head of Marketing, XL Group
tel: +65 6372 3536
e-mail ian.grundy@resultsfoundation.com
web: www.resultsfoundation.com

The Hunger Project
Jim Whitton, Regional Director, US Funding, The Hunger Project
tel: +1 806-236-7371
e-mail: jw@thp.org
web: www.thp.org

About The XL Group
The XL Group is a leading entrepreneur and social enterprise network. XL stands for Extraordinary Lives and its mission is to accelerate the power of individuals to create and contribute. This it does by providing effective training, networking and resources worldwide.
Hosting over 1000 events in 50 cities in 2007, XL provides coaching accreditation, online networks and the XL Results Foundation - a global membership programme. The company provides tools for entrepreneurs which include the Wealth Dynamics Experience, Entrepreneur Business School, XL Magazine, XL Radio and the XL Social Enterprise Accreditation
Programme.

About The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project is a global organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, it empowers millions of women and men to end their own hunger and has pioneered low-cost, gender-focused strategies in each region where hunger exists. Its highest priority is the empowerment of women who traditionally bear primary
responsibility for family health, education, nutrition and, increasingly, family income.

This release was published on openPR.