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Coldplay Stands Up for Girls Living in Poverty

Coldplay-Girls-Living-in-Poverty
Today, 62 million adolescent girls around the world are not receiving an education.

Together, Global Poverty Project and the band Coldplay would like to change this. As partners, the dynamic duo will encourage countries to vote in favor of global education, ideally announcing their support at the Global Citizen Festival in September, where Coldplay will perform.

If countries fund continued education, extreme poverty can be alleviated. An annual $39 billion will provide these girls with 12 years of free, sustainable education – the same amount it costs to fund eight days of global military spending. Continued education has the power to provide the impoverished with sustainable livings, better health and overall independence.

In the past several years, Coldplay has positively used their fame to shed light on the issue of global poverty. As a headliner at the 2015 Global Citizen Festival this September, the English band will bring attention to the Global Goals, a set of 17 initiatives that seek to end extreme poverty, inequality and climate change. The first goal is to end poverty, but the fourth goal is to ensure unbiased, quality education for all humans.

Due to gender inequality, girls are often refused an education. Not only is providing girls with an education a basic human right, but it will also help to break the cycle of extreme global poverty. Girls that go to school are more likely to postpone unwanted marriages and pregnancies, are less susceptible to HIV and AIDS and gain knowledge and skills that lead to a sustainable life with increased earning.

Coldplay is calling on world leaders to support global education to ensure that all humans are granted access to quality education, especially girls that are held back by outdated gender inequalities. Through social media, partnerships with honorable nonprofits and their earned fame, Coldplay chooses to stand up for the girls, understanding that education has the power to end global poverty.

– Sarah Sheppard

Sources: Global Citizen, Global Goals, UNICEF
Photo: Under the Gun Review

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Hugh Jackman Releases Video for Global Citizen

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Actor Hugh Jackman, best known for his role as “Wolverine” Marvel’s X-Men series, recently released a video urging others to help end global poverty through the platform Global Citizen and through the initiative of the Global Poverty Project.  “The world has the resources, the policy leaders have the ideas, the question is, do we as global citizens have the will?” asks Jackman in the new video.

This is not the first video Jackman has made regarding the issue of global poverty. In 2013, globalcitizen.org released an impactful video where Jackman explains the organization’s “Live Below the Line” fundraiser. Four thousand people took part in the fundraiser by living below the poverty line, or surviving off of two dollars a day for five days. Their efforts raised $440,000 toward ending extreme poverty. “Lines can’t help it, they separate things. But we can also be the ones who color outside those lines. We can voyage out to cross over lines for the sake of each other and for the planet,” explains Jackman.

Now, Jackman is focusing on the positive: global poverty has been cut in half in the past 20 years. Poverty now has the potential to be completely eliminated by 2030. This year is crucial as world leaders will be making important decisions regarding the future of extreme poverty. Global Citizen remarks that the year 2015 could be a “turning point.”

Global Citizen launched in 2012 and quickly gained the support of many celebrities, including rapper Jay-Z, actress Katie Holmes and singer Carrie Underwood. Every year, Global Citizen hosts a festival attended by many celebrities. In order to win the opportunity to attend, steps toward ending poverty must be taken, such as signing online petitions.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this year’s Global Citizen Festival to further the movement to end extreme poverty,” Jackman was quoted as saying at last year’s festival, which was held in Central Park. “This is a cause that has been close to my heart for many years, and I look forward to joining 60,000 Global Citizens in Central Park as we change the world for the better.”

Jackman’s dedication to the cause is admirable, and chances are this is not the last call-to-action we will see from him.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Global Citizen, Huffington Post, People
Photo: Zimbio

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Ending Global Poverty By 2030

ending global poverty
Videos and pictures of malnourished children play on TV screens in between reality TV shows and donation envelopes arrive in the mail, sometimes to be barely glanced at. A supporter of The Global Poverty Movement said, “Everything that has a beginning has an end,” but what is the world doing to end global poverty?

Two people who are aware of and trying to combat this issue are Hugh Evans and Simon Moss. These two men erected The Global Poverty Movement in 2008 during a “High Level meeting on Millennium Development Goals” and within a year launched in Australia. It is their hope that through this project, global poverty can be eradicated by 2030 through the use of government changes and business and consumer action, along with developing a movement that will inspire and educate people to move to action to affect change.

Since landing in England, New Zealand and the United States, the Project has increased in numbers by the thousands and secured funding for their initiatives, such as Live Below the Line, The End of Polio and Global Citizen, to eradicate poverty by the billions.

The Global Poverty Project has made use of multimedia to reach those all over the world in support of their campaign of ending global poverty through video presentations to recruiting celebrities such as Hugh Jackman to enlist in the cause to free ticketed concerts to spread their mission.

By using these methods, people of all ages—about 250,000 so far—are becoming members of Global Citizen, becoming more conscious of the less fortunate and moving to action by simply using the Internet.

In late September, the organization hosted their third annual Global Citizen Festival with popular singers Jay Z, Carrie Underwood, fun. and The Roots, to name a few. In order to obtain tickets, the organization created an incentive program; sign petitions, email world leaders and share content on social media. By doing so, “fans [became] active participants in campaigning for positive change.” These campaigners earned points to put in a raffle to win tickets to the concert.

With the help of activists lobbying for change, a change will come, even if it’s through sharing an article online or signing a name to a petition because like one Global Citizen said, “What we do in one place effects someone on the other side of the world.”

– Kori Withers

Sources: Global Poverty Project, Global Poverty Project 2, Global Poverty Project 3
Photo: UN Seattle

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Global Citizen Festival Raises Awareness

 

In many ways, Global Citizen reflects the mission of The Borgen Project by uniting American citizens in the fight to end global poverty. Global citizen is a website and mobile application that was developed to help the general population find ways to tackle extreme poverty. It is a tool to draw attention to the suffering of the 1.2 billion people in the world who live on less than $1 per day and to act upon this injustice.

A Global Citizen is one who “identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this community’s values and practices”. It is up to the citizens of the globe to request change for the most vulnerable populations. The systems that perpetuate a cycle of poverty must be brought to light.

Although Global Citizen does not ask for donations or charity, they work to learn more about pertinent issues that relate to extreme poverty and ways we can overcome them. Initiated by the Global Poverty Project, the Global Citizen Festival kicked-off this past September in New York City for its third annual gathering.

Accompanying United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were stars such as Jay Z, No Doubt, Sting, Foo Fighters, John Legend, the Roots and many more. Almost 60,000 people joined the celebration of global unity and aspiration to address the world’s most urgent problems. Tickets were free for all audience members, who assisted or volunteered in some way to help spread awareness about global poverty.

This year’s Global Citizen Festival efforts were aimed in improving access to education, vaccination and sanitation. Although not an official event for the U.N. General Assembly, the Global Citizen Festival has assembled a host of world leaders who have voiced their commitment to focus and address the issues of extreme poverty, climate change and sustainable development.

With less than 465 days to achieve all eight of the Millennium Development Goals, Ki-moon reassured the crowd that “a better world was around the corner.”

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: United Nations, Global Citizen, MSNBC, Kosmos JournalE
Photo: MSNBC

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Jay-Z to Headline Global Citizen Festival

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Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.25 per day, consumes 1.2 billion people of the world’s population. Fortunately, awareness of this problem is beginning to penetrate the mainstream and even many celebrities are starting to take action. Jay-Z, Carrie Underwood, Tiesto, and other well-known artists are set to headline the Global Citizen Festival on September 27th at Central Park in New York City. This festival is aimed to highlight the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

In regards to the festival, Jay-Z stated, “Change only takes place when and where there is action. I’m joining the 2014 Global Citizen Festival because I believe through actions, whether it be by raising awareness, getting involved or educating ourselves, the goal to end extreme poverty by 2030 is possible.”

The Global Poverty Project has taken the initiative to create this festival not only to raise awareness about the issue, but also to increase the number of people participating in poverty-reduction efforts. In order to maximize attendance and participation in such efforts, 45,000 tickets will be distributed free of charge for participating in Global Citizen’s online platform.

Many may argue that a concert, even with such famous artists, will not do much to alleviate extreme poverty around the globe, but the statistics show otherwise. In the past two years of Global Citizen Festivals, with performances by John Mayer, Alicia Keys, The Foo Fighters, and Kings of Leon, actions taken by concert attendees generated $1.3 billion to put toward poverty reduction programs, as well as commitments from 35 world leaders to aid the poor. Although much more funding and aid is needed to eliminate extreme poverty, $1.3 billion has saved lives.

In terms of participation, exposure, and timing, the Global Citizen Festival has been very strategically organized. This festival is set up to reach the widest audience possible by having iconic artists from three completely different genres of music come together to perform at the same concert, attracting people from many different backgrounds. The festival has also established partnerships with mainstream media outlets, such as NBC and MSNBC in order to reach people on a national level as well.

September 27th is a very important date for the festival to be held because it coincides with the United Nations General Assembly, where leaders from all over the world will gather to discuss public policy and international affairs. The fact that this festival is on the same day will give added inspiration to these leaders to commit to providing even more funding from their nations for international aid development to reduce extreme global poverty.

Besides eliminating extreme poverty by 2030, the main goals of this years’ Global Citizen Festival include bringing vaccines to the world’s poor, expanding education to the 60 million adolescents who are not provided the opportunity to learn and increasing conditions of sanitation to prevent disease and other problems.

In the fight against global poverty, it is extremely helpful and important that celebrities like Jay-Z and Carrie Underwood use their spotlight of fame toward a worthy cause in order to raise awareness. The combination of high-profile figures, established media partnerships, and strategic methods of participation in poverty-reduction, has set this years’ Global Citizens Festival at an unprecedented reach.

– Lucas Vazquez
Sources: Inquisitr, Rolling Stone
Photo: radio.com

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Global Citizen Nights: Promoting Poverty Awareness

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Ever since the great success of “We Are the World,” the music industry has been known for being a big part of poverty awareness, as many artists use their notoriety to make a difference.

The Global Poverty Project (GPP), started in 2008 by Hugh Evans, is best known for its once-per-year event, the Global Citizen Festival. Due to all the success the festivals have had in the past few years, the GPP has started a new concert series to help work toward its goal to end global poverty by 2030: Global Citizen Nights.

Billboard announced on February 26, 2014 that The Fray will be the headliner for the very first Global Citizen Night, taking place at Emo’s East in Austin, Texas on March 10. In addition to The Fray, Allen Stone and Saints of Valory will also be playing the event.

The lead singer of The Fray, Isaac Slade, said to Billboard recently, “It’s almost unimaginable how many people live in extreme poverty today. With all the technology and connectivity in our so-called modern global landscape, you’d think we’d have this figured out by now. We hope the Global Citizen Nights concerts will help bring attention to this important issue.”

The GPP is planning for additional Global Citizen Nights in Nashville, Chicago and St. Louis. Those performers and the venues they will be playing will be announced soon.

The process to earn tickets for Global Citizen Nights will be in the same vein as earning tickets for the Global Citizen Festival. Anyone can take action online by visiting Globalcitizen.org and entering a prize draw for whichever event he or she chooses. Any person can put his or her name in the draw up to three times. These tickets that are earned are completely free of charge. In addition, there are a small number of VIP tickets available that guarantee a ticket to the show and better seating.

One of the trademarks of the GPP is that it works tirelessly to get everyday citizens involved and to educate them about the extreme poverty that exists in our world. Partnering with musicians has further allowed the GPP to connect with the “Global Citizens” that it tries to create and unite, because it provides both incentive and inspiration to make a difference.

Evans hopes that this new venture will continue to attract a young crowd, as these individuals can become some of the most involved Global Citizens. Evans has said, “The Global Citizen Nights concert series lets us bring major artists to small venues as a reward to young, energetic, and socially-conscious Global Citizens who are engaging with us online.”

Evans is taking a unique approach to demonstrate the progress that has been made in alleviating poverty and emphasizing what still needs to be done to end poverty as a whole. By encouraging activism and spreading awareness, Evans’ goal is get increased United States government funding to provide a wide range of aid.

The focus of Global Citizen Nights, in addition to spreading awareness, is to guarantee that every single child has access to food, clean water, an education and basic healthcare. By partnering with the music industry and using free concerts as rewards, the GPP is targeting a younger audience and uniting Global Citizens to successfully end poverty by 2030.

– Julie Guacci

Sources: Global Citizen, Billboard
Photo: Global Citizen

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Global Citizen Festival Builds Awareness for World Poverty

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Music is a powerful medium that spreads messages cross borders, cultures, and language barriers. Music is something people absolutely love and over which they get passionate. In addition to music’s utility of the auditory sense, live music provides for engagement of all the senses. What better environment to raise consciousness about an important cause, than when the audience is voluntarily, and ultimately thoroughly, engaged in the message being sent to them?

The cause to which I am referring is Global Poverty Project, an international education and advocacy humanitarian organization working to end global poverty. The Global Poverty Project is an Australian-based organization led by Hugh Evans–a man who has become a significant voice for the movement.

Global Citizen is an awareness raising online platform, which allows users to earn points by sharing information. In turn, users earn points, and can use their points to bid on live entertainment events, such as Global Citizen Festival.

The Global Citizen Festival takes place in Central Park in New York City. The 2nd Global Citizen Festival took place on September 28, 2013. The Global Citizens Tickets initiative motivated most of the concertgoers to earn their tickets by raising awareness about global poverty.

The concert is presented by Cotton on Foundation, an organization which has notably built the best performing schools in Uganda and has contributed significantly to educational needs in Africa.

According to the Global Citizen Festival website, more progress has been made over the past thirteen years than ever before. Amazingly, the end of poverty is within reach. The Global Poverty Project is based on four main goals: education, health, women’s equality, and global partnerships. The project understands change can only occur if world leaders are notified and asked to support these goals.

According to the site, 57 million children are denied basic schooling services. The goal is to provide schooling by 2015. In the health sector, the main goal is to have 1 million quality community health workers by 2015. The project’s women equality goal is to recognize women’s and girls’ equality as a priority and take measures to support that equality. Goals involving global partnership emphasize gathering support from public and private organizations in a commitment to end global poverty by 2030.

The 2nd annual Global Citizen Festival was a success. Well-known artists John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, and Stevie Wonder headlined the five-and-a-half hour concert. Notably, this year, the project campaigned for policy changes in the core areas of education, women’s equality, and reproductive health.

– Laura Reinacher

Sources: Global Citizen, New York Times, Forbes
Photo: NY Daily News