“I am inspired that so many world leaders are coming together at the Clinton Global Initiative as part of their efforts to find a road to a more peaceful and prosperous future for people everywhere, regardless of borders,” said Former President Bill Clinton. From providing children with clean drinking water or educating women in male dominated societies the Clinton Initiative, over seven years, has changed millions of lives, for the better.

The theme of this year’s meeting is “Designing for Impact,” whose stated purpose is how the Clinton Global Initiative community “can utilize our abundance of global capacity to invent better tools, build more effective interventions, and work creatively and collaboratively to design a future worth pursuing.”

In the opening session a $12 million “Commitment to Action” from Tom Golisano to fund 12 Special Olympics International projects that will build health care support for individuals with intellectual disabilities in underserved communities was announced by Clinton.

Libya’s newly-elected leader will join Egypt’s president and the U.N. secretary-general for the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York City. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will speak on Tuesday.

Participants will attend three days of sessions aimed at solving pressing world problems and finding active solutions.

Since Clinton created the initiative in 2005, “the best way to describe the work is by looking at the impact of 2,100 commitments made that have already improved the lives of 400 million people in over 180 countries,” said Craig Minassian, a spokesman for the initiative.