NEW YORK — The Global Citizen Festival, an international non-profit fighting extreme poverty, will host a free concert in New York’s Central Park next year. It will feature Metallica and Mariah Carey.
A concert will be held in Accra, Ghana on Sept. 24, with Usher, SZA, and H.E.R.
Hugh Evans, Global Citizen CEO, said that the day will not be celebrated but more of an appeal to international crisis responders to act immediately.
He said that “we are at a critical point where COVID has driven nearly 100 million people into poverty, and now Russia’s invasion in Ukraine has made it so worse.” “At least 323 million people now face acute hunger. If we don’t act now, 200 million more people could be in desperate poverty by November. This would bring the total number of people in extreme poverty to nearly a billion.
According to international organizations, people who live on $1.90 per day are considered to be living in extreme poverty.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Quantico) star, will host the Central Park event. Global Citizen encourages people to use their voices and convince decision-makers and leaders around the world to end hunger and poverty. These issues are even more urgent now.
Chopra Jonas stated to The Associated Press, “If we want to do something about it, then we must mobilize urgently.” It is inspiring to see all these people, from different walks of society and different professions, come together, motivated to make a difference now, in an urgent manner.
Tickets to the concerts, as with all Global Citizen events are free. To get tickets, you must sign up for Global Citizen and make a commitment to a number of issues.
For more information, visit globalcitizen.org/en/festival/nyc/2022.
Pop star Charlie Puth and Rosalia, a Latin sensation, are among the Central Park performers. Maneskin, a country singer from Italy, and Stormzy, a rapper from Nigeria, and Tems, a singer-songwriter from Nigeria, will also be performing in Accra. Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, and Gyakie will also be performing in Accra.
Global Citizen hopes to make use of the concert platform to encourage people to request specific changes from business, government and philanthropic leaders. Evans hopes to convince Scandinavian, Ireland, Portugal and other countries to transfer their Special Drawing Rights to the International Monetary Fund. These rights provide affordable financing of around $100 billion to low-income countries in Africa to reduce their debt repayments.
He also asked the United States for more funding to combat climate change. He also requested about $500 million in grants and donations to African farmers to help them grow more crops.
Evans stated that “We must also address the fact that supporting women and girls all over the globe and their talents is the closest we have at a solution to poverty eradication.” “We are asking the richest nations to invest $600 million in education, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and economic empowerment.
Global Citizen has proven that its social media strategy and followers’ enthusiasm have worked. It is now able to convince foundations and corporations to donate using the same formula. The advocacy group estimates that it has contributed $41.4 billion to causes since its 2012 Global Citizen Festival and helped improve the lives of over 1.15 billion people.
Evans stated that “These are urgent problems.” “That is why our campaigns are focused on ending extreme poverty right now, not next year or the year after. It is important to address the most pressing issues, such as gender equality and climate change.