For Whom is Global Citizen Network?

The past days witnessed a strange event, which the media did not pay attention to, in its busy coverage of the war in Ukraine, although the event was not far from it. The Global Citizen Foundation was able to raise more than $10 billion for the benefit of Ukrainian refugees, in a global event that demonstrated the global impact of the Foundation, in putting pressure on world leaders and decision-makers, to provide support and assistance that alleviate the suffering of peoples, and help them face the results of the crisis. crises they are going through.

This event shows us the extent to which these institutions and organizations are able to motivate personalities and individuals to adopt their ideas, interact with their projects, get involved in them, and move to pressure the political authorities to carry out their responsibilities towards this. What we want to stand with in this event is: Is the matter really as we mentioned above? And how was the institution able to collect this amount in a short period of time, even though the event itself is outside its jurisdiction? Why did the United Nations organizations specialized in refugee affairs not do so?

How did Global Citizen raise pledges of more than $10 billion in grants and loans for Ukraine? Rather, how did the Foundation manage, in less than 10 years, to carry out more than 30 million works around the world, collecting and distributing more than 35 billion dollars out of total pledges of about 58 billion dollars, from which about 1.1 billion people have benefited so far?

A $10 billion campaign

Last Friday, the Australian "Global Citizen" Foundation organized a global solidarity campaign with Ukraine under the title (Stand with Ukraine), through social media, in which hundreds of thousands of "Global Citizens" members of the Foundation around the world participated, Including the artists, athletes, actors, creators, and activists whose voices and actions have helped ensure billions of dollars are allocated during the Foundation’s Summit Pledges to Help Refugees from Ukraine and around the World the following day, in Warsaw, Poland, chaired by Foundation CEO Hugh Evans In partnership with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared with Global Citizen a video message on March 6 in which he called on people around the world to offer their support to the people of Ukraine, and then followed it up with more messages, speaking to Global Citizen members of Global Citizen. On the developments of war, devastation, the humanitarian situation, and fleeing refugees, he also called on global citizens to urge world leaders to obtain immediate aid.

These messages were received by "global citizens" with a great response among them, but at the same time - according to the "Global Citizen" Foundation - they emphasized the role that ordinary people can play in defending human rights and calling for peace. This calls for a quick review of the common superficial concept of social media platforms, and attention to their role in facilitating and accelerating communication between major human sectors with common orientations, regardless of their geopolitical, religious or ethnic affiliations, especially if the institutions that manage these human sectors have financial resources. enormous, strong relations with political, social, intellectual and cultural institutions.

More than $10 billion was pledged, less than half of it in grants, and the rest in loans, as well as support for grassroots organizations and UN agencies working with refugees and displaced persons. Global Citizens donated more than half a million dollars to the campaign, donated by nearly 5,000 people from 66 countries around the world. This is in addition to commitments in kind from governments, organizations, humanitarian agencies, commercial companies and social media platforms.

As for the European Commission, a partner in the campaign, it pledged 600 million euros, in addition to 400 million euros for refugees in the European Union, Canada, the second partner, pledged 100 million Canadian dollars, Belgium pledged 813 million euros, and Germany about half a billion euros, as well as Croatia with 100 million euros, the Czech Republic with 200 million euros, Slovakia with 530 million euros, Finland with 700 million euros, Sweden with 300 million euros, Italy with about one billion euros, Ireland with 53 million euros, Denmark with about 75 million dollars, and Japan with about 300 million dollars, Lithuania about 40 million euros, Romania with 50 million euros, and Spain with 31 million euros.

The Council of Europe’s Development Bank has also committed €1 billion in loans to member states to support the long-term needs of refugees and their host communities, and the European Investment Bank has set a plan to provide an additional €4 billion in loan financing by the end of 2023, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has allocated €1 billion from a package Aid totaling €2 billion, plus about $1 billion from Britain, $1 billion from the United States, other Western countries, and a few Arab countries.

Global Citizen did not stop at advocacy and encouragement, but stressed that members and advocates demand that pledged funds be new, unearmarked pledges, in order to reduce the risk of cuts to existing basic development and humanitarian programs. Because if not, it will worsen humanitarian conditions in other countries, and crises should never be confronted with each other. She also stressed that while funds are needed to cover the costs of hosting refugees in EU member states and neighboring countries, this should not be at the expense of vulnerable populations around the world.

The secret to success?

How did Global Citizen make such an impact, collecting pledges of more than $10 billion in grants and loans for Ukraine, which the United Nations has not been able to raise since the start of the war there? Rather, how in less than 10 years, the Foundation was able to carry out more than 30 million works around the world, collecting and distributing more than 35 billion dollars out of total pledges of about 58 billion dollars, which have benefited about 1.1 billion people so far.

This non-profit organization defines itself as "a platform dedicated to ending extreme poverty, powered by a community of millions of global citizens who believe in one world, one people, where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive." The Foundation considers itself "the world's largest movement of action-makers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty now, calling for inspiring those who can make things happen, from government leaders, corporations, donors, artists, and citizens, to work together to improve lives", working towards the goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030.

Returning to the sustainable development goals that the United Nations is working to achieve by 2030, within the plan it set in 2015 to transform the world, we find that the first goal of its 17 goals is the goal of eliminating poverty, meaning that the Global Citizen Foundation devotes itself to achieving this goal, This explains the extent of international interaction and cooperation with this institution in its campaign to support Ukrainian refugees, although the entire campaign does not fall within the scope of the institution’s competence, which is the eradication of extreme poverty, and this is not new to the institution, as it links poverty with climate changes with health with racial and gender equality and nationality, just as the sustainable development plan is.

This opens the door wide about this organization and the parties behind it, benefiting from the network of its global citizens scattered all over the world, and the role that awaits them in the coming days, after the Foundation extended the network all over the world, and proved its ability to organize the work and programs of those belonging to these Network, directing it in favor of specific goals, on specific dates.

Here, a question arises that imposes itself on us in the context of current events in search of the origin of the story: Is the war in Ukraine related to the goals of sustainable development and the plan to transform the world?