Global Citizen will convene a diverse group of political, business, and philanthropic leaders in New York on May 1 and 2, including Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, the nonprofit announced on Thursday. The Global Citizen NOW summit aims to garner support for workable solutions to address issues of food insecurity, climate change, and public health associated with extreme poverty, according to Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans. He stressed that urgent action is needed to tackle these challenges as the world faces critical crossroads.
Actors Hugh Jackman, Danai Gurira, and Dakota Johnson, along with representatives from companies like Cisco, Citi, Delta, and PayPal, will join leaders like Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah, Bezos Earth Fund CEO Andrew Steer, and Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the event. Gurira expressed her commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and addressing inequities on the African continent.
The Global Citizen NOW summit will focus on defeating preventable diseases such as malaria, polio, and HPV, as well as announcing new initiatives to preserve the Amazon Rainforest and increase investments in Africa through the World Bank. The summit also aims to build on the momentum generated by Gen Z and millennial leaders at the first international conference in Australia earlier this month. The event will feature the Global Citizen Prize awards, highlighting and financially supporting five young people making extraordinary efforts to change the world.
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