At the inaugural Global Citizen NOW thought leadership summit on May 22, 2022, Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, and Minister of Tourism for Ghana, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, announced Ghana as the sister location alongside New York City for the 2022 Global Citizen Festival, marking the advocacy organisation’s ten years of impact to defend the planet and defeat poverty now.

The 10th Anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival on September 24 will highlight a decade of impact working with the world’s most popular artists, live from the iconic Global Citizen stage on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City, with a simultaneous show from Accra, Ghana.

Featuring performances from high profile artists from across the globe, the 10th-anniversary festivals will focus on driving commitments towards defeating extreme poverty. More details, including artist line-ups and special guests, will be announced in the coming months.

H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, said: “Ghana is honoured to host this year’s edition of the Global Citizen Festival. I look forward to welcoming each and every one of you to Accra, capital of the country at the centre of the world. Together, let us join hands and help accelerate progress towards the realization of the SDGs. We owe it to the next generation to live in a world free from poverty, disease and the degradation of the environment.”

Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Affairs Officer of Global Citizen, said: “We are thrilled to announce Ghana as a sister location for the 10th anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival. Ghana has long been a champion of the SDGs and has seen great success in reducing poverty, building institutions, and providing healthcare and education. The country has galvanized the rest of the continent through its strong institutions and decisive leadership, highlighting what can be possible. The world looks towards Ghana as a beacon in what marks its 65th anniversary year of independence, encouraging others to follow suit to end extreme poverty now.”

Along with celebrating 10 years of Global Citizen Festivals, this year marks the 65th anniversary of Ghana’s independence, together with the 20th anniversary of the African Union, a powerful group of nations who will help set the trajectory of the continent for the coming decades.

It will also amplify the “Beyond the Return: A decade of African Renaissance – 2020-2030” campaign—a follow-up to the successful “Year Of Return”, Ghana 2019’ campaign which commemorated the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the first recorded enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. The landmark campaign also celebrated the resilience of the African people over the past 400 years and welcomed all people of African origin to return to Africa, especially Ghana.

The Global Citizen Festival in Ghana builds upon the advocacy organisation’s continued expansion of its pan-African movement, with recent festivals staged in South Africa and Nigeria.

Since the Mandela 100 Festival, in 2018, more than $4.7 billion of the total $7.2 billion in funding announced during the monumental event has been disbursed by commitment makers to communities and organisations on the front lines of extreme poverty impacting the lives of over 117 million people in South Africa and across the world.