By: Natasha Archary
The Global Citizen Festival 2022 has raised $2.4 billion towards ending extreme poverty.
Taking place in Accra, Ghana on Saturday, 24 September, the milestone event is best known for it’s involvement with international heavy weights.
This year’s event included performances by Usher, Gyakie, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, Stormzy, SZA, TEMS, South Africa’s very own Uncle Waffles, and Tiwa Savage as well as Kwesi Arthur.
Hosted by American-Zimbabwean actress Danai Gurira, over 20 000 citizens were in attendance this year.
The Black Panther actress shared powerful insight into what the Global Citizen Festival 2022 aims to focus on, these include freedom, independence, and justice for Ghana.
Gurira touched on the issues that women face in Ghana, shedding light on how the festival can change their lives and make strides towards gender equality.
“In the last two years alone, more than 47 million women and girls have been pushed back into extreme poverty. Millions of girls have been forced out of the classroom and into unpaid care work.
I wrote my play Eclipsed for a very specific reason, to give voice to women and girls across the world who are displaced, abused and ripped from their homes by wars and conflicts that they did not create.
But the hope is in the title. Eclipsed. An eclipse is temporary. The disempowerment of women and girls can be temporary too. How temporary? That’s up to me and you. If you want to see real progress: empower our girls and protect them at all costs.”
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