Austrian Leadership, September Line Up, Farming on the Frontlines
My latest update includes an interview with an Austrian Federal Minister on sustainable development, details about this September's line up, and the latest on the farming and agriculture front
Dear Friends and Supporters,
I’m coming back to your inboxes today with a whole slew of updates. I was off last week in Cuba (which, in case you missed it, you can read all about on my Substack here), and spent the week before that recouping after the success of Power Our Planet: Live in Paris (the entirety of which you can watch here), so I’m excited today to launch into what’s been cooking over the last couple of weeks!
Firstly I recently had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing the Austrian Minister for European and Constitutional Affairs, Karoline Edtstadler, about how her country has become a leader in the SDGs and the insights it has for all of us. One policy success I did not know about is Austria’s widespread usage of the “climate ticket.” For EUR 1.095 for 365 days, people can travel using all public transport within Austria. Especially during the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with soaring fuel prices, many individuals have turned to trains and other public transport options. You can check out my interview with Minister Edstadler here.
While it seems like just yesterday we were on the Champs Elysee, it’s already been almost a month since President Macron’s Paris summit, and we’re already gearing up for the September Global Citizen Festival in New York. With that said, read on for more on September's launch, as well as some juicy updates on what has been happening.
Launched: Global Citizen Festival 2023!
Global Citizen is making noise! Hopefully, you all saw the big Global Citizen Festival 2023 lineup announcement yesterday and are as excited as I am. On September 23, the Festival will bring together 60,000 action-taking global citizens on the Great Lawn of NYC’s Central Park, who are all working with us to drive critical efforts to End Extreme Poverty NOW: for equity, for the planet, for food, and for jobs.
The launch has received far-reaching coverage in the US and global press. So far, it has been featured in over 1000 stories across 35 markets, with 1.7B in earned media reach. Read all about it here with a few highlights: Variety, Rolling Stone, AP News, Radio France International, TimesLIVE, ET Canada, AP-France, and The Independent UK.
Check out this piece for more on the latest launch.
G20 Asks: Finance Ministers Meeting
When the G20 Finance Ministers meet in India on July 17-18, the world’s advocates are urging them to complete some of the unfinished business from the recent Paris Summit by expanding and improving the international financial architecture to unlock international financing to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals and tackle the climate emergency. In partnership with friends at ONE, E3G and the Pandemic Action Network, Global Citizen sent a joint advocacy letter urging G20 Finance Ministers to give the African Union a permanent seat at the G20; fulfill their outstanding global climate financing and SDRs commitments; boost grant financing; speed up implementation of MDB reforms; and make more meaningful progress on debt relief efforts.
Congratulations to Australian philanthropist
I would like to congratulate Alex Waislitz for receiving the Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in this year's King's Birthday honours. He has been recognized for the impactful philanthropic work he has invested in and contributed to. Global Citizen has been running the Waislitz Award since 2014, it is an annual cash prize of $250K USD to grassroots organizations whose work is contributing to ending extreme poverty.
Journey to Zero Hunger Podcast
What does it mean to be a 21st-century food trailblazer? I’m looking forward to listening to PepsiCo Foundation President C.D. Glin speak with South Africa’s former Deputy President Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and one of the MENA region’s best pastry chefs, Chef Sahar Parham Al Awadhi, on their journeys to break barriers and chart new courses against global hunger on this week's episode of PepsiCo Foundation's Journey to Zero Hunger podcast. Listen, subscribe, and stay tuned for later episodes featuring humanitarian and advocate Sabrina Elba, as well as yours truly!
The Latest SOFI Report: A Harrowing Tale of Hunger
This past Wednesday, the highly anticipated State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report dropped, containing the latest insights from FAO, IFAD, WHO, WFP, and UNICEF on progress against global hunger and food insecurity. As of 2022, there were an estimated 122M more people facing hunger since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Across the world, the burden of hunger is falling disproportionately on women and children under five, 148 million of whom were stunted in 2022 due to malnutrition. Conflict remains one of the leading drivers of hunger and the cracks in our global food systems are felt widely. Last year, as many as 3.1 billion people were unable to afford healthy diets. In light of this report, it’s more important than ever that wealthy countries step-up and make building resilient food systems a crucial priority.
Farming on the Frontlines
As part of the efforts to promote the voices of farming women from across the world, Global Citizen is proud to share the latest chapter from our series “Farming on the Frontlines” focusing on agricultural entrepreneurs based in Egypt. In this series, what never fails to disappoint is the way that the women who share their stories here illustrate the concrete linkages between farming and other dimensions of their lives whether it’s confronting sexism, navigating climate change, or transforming their livelihoods.
Missed the previous chapter? You can read about Mexico’s cacao champions here.
Be Seen, Be Heard! We Need More Young People in Politics!
The Global Citizen movement is all about empowering people, and young people particularly, to take action and generate change on issues that matter to them locally and to all of us globally. Of course, that is done through the power of music and the different ways they can engage in our campaigns, but besides allowing young people to pressure decision-makers to make the right calls, we also need to make sure those same young people can participate in politics and exercise their rights and become those decision makers the world needs. So, as part of its civic space work, the team at Global Citizen has partnered with The Body Show and the Office of the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, to support the Be Seen Be Heard campaign, to eliminate hurdles to youth’s political participation in over 75 countries. The GC team have published this Explainer and launched a first global Action Challenge (which will soon be joined by other country-specific campaign actions) to increase awareness and mobilization, to combat apathy and estrangement, and to help young people raise their voice.
New Twitter Space Conversation on Supporting Human Rights Defenders.
A few weeks ago the team at GC introduced you to the work of the Lifeline fund, a mechanism designed to support Human Rights Defenders who are feeling threatened and repressed at home. In keeping up with the team’s already traditional monthly twitter space conversation on strengthening civic space, they were joined by partners from CIVICUS and Freedom House in a new and very enthusiastic Conversation on the Lifeline, its impact and how global citizens can support it and call their governments to direct funds to it. In a world where repression and restrictions of civic space is a staple of daily news, these mechanisms need to be supported and strengthened to support those who defend our rights!
!Threads
Exciting news! Global Citizen has a new Thread account! Follow them on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and their Thread account for inspiring updates and ways to make a positive impact, and join the global movement to help the world end extreme poverty today! You can also follow my own threads account @micksheldrick.
My Weekend Reading List
The Tale of Two Invasions: What the Last Attack on Jenin Tells Us About Israel Now
Türk calls on States to combat "the weaponization of religious differences for political purposes"
Three Worlds: The high price Arab-Jews paid for the Zionist project
As always, if you’re enjoying the weekly newsletter format, and want even more, you can subscribe to my Substack here where I publish reviews, lists and articles on a regular basis.
Warmly,
Mick