Reimagining Impact at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative

Globally, 13 percent of young people – nearly 75 million people — are unemployed. In the Middle East and North Africa, this number rises to more than 28 percent. The issue is compounded when you factor in the 127 million unemployed adults worldwide. Meanwhile, 40 percent of employers in the United States, 65 percent in Brazil, and 64 percent in India report they are unable to fill job vacancies, potentially causing billions of dollars in losses.

Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers will address this issue on September 23 during a plenary session at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

Chambers will join moderator and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof for “Putting Education to Work,” a discussion on how CGI members can create real education-to-employment journeys for young people, retrain adults, and eliminate the barriers that prevent those traditionally left behind from gaining meaningful employment opportunities.

You can watch a livestream of this CGI session at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 23.

Among other things, Chambers will discuss how the Internet of Everything will impact the way we train or re-skill employees in the future, and how companies can make “skilling up” employees part of their business model.

CGI is comprised of Fortune 500 company CEOs, government leaders, foundation heads, philanthropists, and others who are committed to solving global challenges and making a positive impact on the world.

A cornerstone of the CGI annual meeting is the commitments members make to partner with others to address global challenges. In 2007, Cisco made a $10 million, 5-year commitment to support information and communications technology (ICT) development in five sub-Saharan African countries.

The 2014 Annual Meeting will bring CGI members together under the theme “Reimagining Impact.” Sessions will guide members in better measuring and assessing the outcomes of their work, and rethinking how to create value through new approaches to address complex global challenges going forward.

John Chambers will participate in other sessions on workforce development and measuring impact, including CEO roundtables on “Opportunities for Today’s Disconnected Youth,” with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and “Valuing What Matters,” with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Additional Cisco attendees include Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice President for Industry Solutions; Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs; Anil Menon, Senior Vice President of Smart and Connected Communities; Chuck Robbins, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales; and Michael Timmeny, Vice President of Global Government Affairs.

Here’s how you can engage in CGI: