NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Despite heavy rains from Tropical Storm Ophelia, the The Global Citizen Festival returned to New York’s Central Park on Saturday, rallying music and fans to support the mission of ending extreme clobal poverty around the world.
According to Global Citizen, the festival, which featured the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jung Kook, Anitta, Conan Gray, D-Nice, Sofia Carson, Stray Kids, 3RACHA, helped to raise more than $240 million in committments to help fight the war on poverty.
The commitments included a pledge of $90 million to IFAD from the Government of Norway and a $150 million commitment from France to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) ahead of the organization’s final replenishment meetings to be hosted in Paris this December.
Global Citizen Festival 2023 also marked a year of campaigning across gender equity, girls’ education, and access to sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls that included a pledge of €2 million from Belgium for the first time to support the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies program to advance reproductive health care for women and girls worldwide.
“Belgium is standing up for women and girls everywhere by committing €2 million to UNFPA Supplies in a historic contribution to support maternal health care and contraception access for women and girls,” said Caroline Gennez, Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities Belgium, via video message.
In total, the Global Citizen Festival helped to raise $290 million in total commitments, leading to a total of $470 million as a result of the campaign.
“We’re relentless in our pursuit of action for communities in need because ending extreme poverty now is the only answer to addressing the world’s biggest challenges that continue to grow day by day. A free and open civic space where people can voice their political opinions is essential to achieving thriving, equal societies, and by taking action on the Global Citizen platform, Global Citizens have the opportunity to hold world leaders accountable and call for radical change,” event organizers said.
