Global Citizen’s sole focus is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. But in 2020, with the growing spread of COVID-19, Global Citizen immediately realized that this virus would have a massive impact on the ability to reach that goal. Estimates have stated that the economic impact of COVID-19 could force an additional 71 million people into extreme poverty, and push those who are already struggling into a deeper hole. Global Citizen immediately pivoted their work to lead the global response. Part of that effort included launching the “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” campaign to raise badly needed resources to ensure that everyone, everywhere would be able to access treatment and vaccines.
Global Citizen launched the “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” campaign in partnership with the European Commission, to challenge global governments, philanthropists and the private sector to raise the funds needed to provide tests, treatments and vaccines for everyone, everywhere. The campaign consisted of a worldwide pledging summit and a concert special. In total, the campaign raised $6.9 billion in financial and political support, including cash grants, loans and guarantees, from 41 governments and all G7 member states and key intergovernmental bodies. World leaders, including Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa joined the effort along with other governments, foundations and philanthropists. The biggest contribution came from the U.S. government at over half a billion dollars.
The “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” concert celebrated the campaign’s success with a televised special hosted by Dwayne Johnson, which tapped into the voices of the world’s greatest artists, including Chloe x Halle, Christine and the Queens, Coldplay, For Love Choir, J Balvin, Jennifer Hudson, J’Nai Bridges with Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic & YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), Justin Bieber and Quavo, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Original Broadway Cast of HAMILTON with Jimmy Fallon & The Roots, Miley Cyrus, Shakira, Usher and Yemi Alade. It also featured appearances from Antoni Porowski, Billy Porter, Charlize Theron, Chris Rock, David Beckham, Derrick Johnson, Diane Kruger, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Jackman, Ken Jeong, Kerry Washington, Naomi Campbell, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Olivia Colman, Opal Tometi, Salma Hayek Pinault and more. In addition to the money raised, the concert inspired more than 800,000 actions by Global Citizens around the world.
In raising $6.9 billion from dozens of governments, philanthropists, private sector leaders, and corporate partners, the “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” summit and concert brought together a historic coalition of global leaders in the service of a single goal - addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Up until this point, the world’s pandemic response was largely focused on individual countries’ suppression methods. This was the first time the world came together in such a public manner to address the pandemic. Global Citizen built a movement driven by the knowledge that one country’s actions alone won’t matter if COVID-19 exists elsewhere - and that we have to tackle the pandemic as a community of global citizens.
The “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” campaign brought together 41 governments, including all G7 member states and key intergovernmental bodies – European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS. The campaign raised a total of $6.9 billion. - $1.5 billion of which went to address both the health-related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the broader effects of the pandemic on those living in poverty; and $5.4 billion in loans and guarantees committed by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to support the world’s most fragile economies. Because of this effort, the goal is for 250 million vaccine doses to be made available to the world's poorest countries. Beneficiaries of these funds included the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI); The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND); GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Therapeutics Accelerator; UNITAID; WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, powered by the UN Foundation; and The International and Regional Response Network.
