Global Citizen Festival 2014

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If you are in the New York City are next weekend, consider going to the Global Citizen Festival on September 27, 2014 . The event is an initiative of Global Poverty Project, an international education and advocacy organization working to catalyze the movement to end extreme poverty by 2030.

An Australian grown project, The Global Poverty Project creates campaigns with the purpose of increasing the number of people taking action to end extreme poverty, with the vision of a world without extreme poverty by 2030.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among a dozen world leaders who will attend. There will be music performances by JAY Z, No Doubt, Carrie Underwood, fun., The Roots, Tiësto and more.

We are a bit dubious of Global Citizen’s stated goal of seeing the end of extreme poverty by 2030. And there is the danger of a lip-service-only event, especially when celebrities are involved.

However we like festivals like this because it can sometimes be the next best thing to traveling to places like India and Ghana to volunteer. There are usually expats from different countries at these types of public events — so there are opportunities to at least meet and talk to folks who are different than you. And the more people spend time together for such a positive reason, the more understanding can result.

We also like that Global Citizen talks on their website about domestic poverty. This is a question we get a lot — Why volunteer abroad when there are so many problems back home that you could be helping with.

Global Citizen’s answer is that there are plenty of resources to end poverty both at home and at home. Our answer is similar. In the US in 2012, public charities reported over $1.65 trillion in total revenues. There are over one million registered public charities and private foundations in the US. So I think we’re doing ok back home even while we help other abroad!

 

 

Learn more at www.globalpovertyproject.com