Global Citizens have been working to eliminate extreme poverty for more than a decade, taking more than 29 million actions over 10 years to help change more than 1 billion lives.
In 2021, Global Citizen and its partners announced more than $1.5 billion in commitments, 88 million COVID-19 doses, and pledges to contribute 157 million trees during two key events: VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World on May 8, and Global Citizen Live on Sept. 25.
Positive social impact comes in many forms, but only through continued collaboration across every sector of society can we achieve a world free of extreme poverty by 2030. Major impact milestones across education, health, equity, environment, and more were also achieved this year as a result of key events such as One World: Together At Home and Global Goal: Unite for Our Future in 2020, and Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 in 2018.
Here are five impact milestones achieved by the urgent actions and dedication of Global Citizens and our partners in 2021.
1. One World: Together At Home — 100% of Funds Distributed
One hundred percent of the $127.9 million in pledged funding from One World: Together At Home has been fully distributed to 140 local and regional response organizations and the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. This funding has helped provide PPE, deploy emergency medical teams, distribute educational resources, and more to communities in need around the world. Catch up on the impact here.
2. Global Goal: Unite for Our Future — 93% of Funds Distributed
$1.4 billion of the $1.5 billion announced during Global Goal: Unite for Our Future is already supporting millions of people in the fight against COVID-19. This includes funds for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator — a platform for collaboration launched to accelerate global efforts in the fight against COVID-19 — and for the broader effects of the pandemic on the world's most marginalized and disadvantaged communities.
3. Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 3-Year Anniversary Update — 117M Lives Impacted
Three years after the Mandela 100 campaign, 117.8 million lives in Africa and globally have been impacted as a result of the announcements made at the event in Johannesburg on Dec. 2, 2018. In 2021, more than $4.7 billion of the total $7.2 billion in commitments have been disbursed, and the delivery of commitments is 63% complete. Read the latest report here.
4. VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World — 9M COVID-19 Vaccines Distributed for Global Pandemic Response
On May 7, 2021, at Global Citizen’s’ VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World, pledges of $302 million to vaccine-sharing program COVAX AMC were announced to ensure the equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments to vulnerable communities around the world. By the end of 2021, over $40 million, along with $23 million matched, in private sector pledges will be disbursed to COVAX and the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Fund. Of 13.25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses pledged from Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Croatia, and the UAE, 9 million doses have been delivered to communities in need throughout Latin America, South Pacific, Syria, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Africa and beyond.
5. Global Citizen Live — $1.1B Pledged to Defeat Poverty & Defend the Planet
At Global Citizen Live — a 24-hour event with stages in New York City, Paris, Los Angeles, Lagos, Mumbai, and more — over $1.1 billion in financial pledges were announced to defend the planet and defeat poverty. Global Citizen's partners also pledged to plant, restore, and protect 157 million trees, and to provide 60 million COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries.
Global Citizen, and Global Citizens everywhere, have been working to eliminate extreme poverty for more than a decade. But as we approach 2022, now, more than ever, the voices of Global Citizens matter.
Eradicating extreme poverty requires international cooperation, solidarity, and a shared understanding in order to overcome the systems and beliefs that create it. You can join the Global Citizen campaign to defeat poverty and defend the planet by taking action here, and become part of a movement powered by citizens around the world who are taking action together with governments, corporations, and philanthropists to make change.
