Davos Recap, Exciting Announcement and Book Campaign Launch Party Reminder!

I just returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos and bringing reflections, news of some latest announcements and a reminder on the upcoming kick off of my book campaign!

Jan 23, 2024

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Last week saw myself and Global Citizen colleagues at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, where our team was busy on the ground meeting with partners, serving on panels, and identifying pathways to rebuild trust in 2024 and beyond. If you were at Davos and missed our big announcement, fear not! See our summary below. I also wrote about my top 5 reflections here.

Another shameless plug regarding my upcoming book: our friends at Changing Our World are hosting a Pre-Launch Party on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024 @ 5:30pm in New York. Enjoy light bites and drinks while listening to and engaging with some excellent speakers. Please fill out the following form to RSVP - hope to see you there! A reminder too that you can pre-order my book here (thank you if you’ve already done so!). I’ve set a goal of 1000 by April to help ensure the word gets out!

Now, onto the updates.

What a week in Davos!

It was a momentous week for the GC team at the World Economic Forum - most significantly, we announced the expansion of our Move Afrika initiative, as we will now partner with the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Rwanda in 2024 to drive social change through music and deliver concrete economic opportunities across the continent. President Kagame of Rwanda and President Akufo-Addo of Ghana were on hand to deliver remarks. Check out further details of the announcement here.

Move Afrika: Ghana follows the unforgettable Global Citizen Festival:Accra, which took place in 2022. The Ghanaian government's post-event analysis found the festival's social and economic impact was vast: more than $15 million was injected into the economy from activity such as production spending, hotels, transport, advertising and security; over 5000 people traveled to Ghana for the festival; more than 1000 Ghanaians were employed as part of the event; hotel occupancy increased to 75 percent; and over 2 million actions were taken by global citizens as part of advocacy efforts to End Extreme Poverty NOW. Hosted by Danai Gurira, over 100 million music fans around the world watched incredible live performances from Usher, SZA, Stormzy, Gyakie, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, TEMS and Uncle Waffles.

President Akufo-Addo of Ghana is joined by President Kagame of Rwanda to talk announce Move Afrika 2024

Despite growing mistrust of multilateral institutions across the world, many across the world are still in support of the major interventions needed to tackle the biggest challenges we face, including climate change, youth unemployment, and the degradation of democratic values. That’s why on Day 1 of the World Economic Forum, we co-hosted a panel with Forbes to discuss strategic investments in sustainable development, job creation and initiatives to uplift local communities.

Food security was a major focus for our team as well. I was honored to serve on a panel co-sponsored by our partners at Citi to identify and discuss pathways for a more food-secure future in the context of climate change and growing division. We have the technology and the ability to innovate - it’s now time we confront this challenge with bold action.

I also had the opportunity to connect with many of our loyal partners and champions on the ground at Davos, including Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs Felipe Paullier and other key stakeholders.

A Critical Juncture for Food Security

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2024 takes place in a hybrid format in Berlin, Germany from 17-19th January, an opportunity to engage in agri-political dialogue with policymakers, scientists, business leaders and other civil society organizations. The forum is hosted by the German Ministry for Food and Agriculture and expert panels are chaired by international organizations, such as OECD, FAO, and World Bank. You can read here why Germany’s role in fighting global hunger is decisive and the support of organizations like IFAD and CGIAR is vital to achieve Zero Hunger (German only). Explore here the 7 facts that show the world’s food systems are broken, in both German and English.

In the run up to the Forum and in the context of the final budget negotiation session in the German Parliament on 18th January (see for more info below) we called on the German government to invest more in adaptation finance and to support smallholder farmers that are at the forefront of the climate crisis. Join Global Citizen and take action here!

Budget Negotiations in Germany: Unfortunate Cuts

A ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) on 15 November had far-reaching consequences for the 2024 budget plans. 60 billion euros originally intended to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic were shifted to the so-called "Climate and Transformation Fund" in 2022, a practice that, according to the Court, was not compatible with the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law. As a result, the coalition government in the past months had to account for cuts of around 17 billion euros in the 2024 federal budget and additional cuts of 400 million euros in the Development Ministry’s budget were discussed. Global Citizen coordinated a joint letter signed by eleven CSOs that was sent to key decision-makers in the Bundestag and the coalition ahead of the negotiations. We also published a press release on how these cuts would jeopardize Germany’s leading role in humanitarian aid and development cooperation, talked to Reuters about it and supported the call of African partners to members of the Budget Committee to sustain Germany’s commitment to development aid.

The budget negotiations in Germany finally came to an end after the Budget Committee held its last rounds of discussions until the evening hours of 18th January. Despite our efforts, the results are a shocking cut of almost two billion euros (1.93 billion) for development cooperation compared to 2023: Around 930 million of cuts in the Development Ministry’s (BMZ) budget, 800 million in the Foreign Office budget and 200 million in the Ministry of Economic Affairs budget that were earmarked for international climate action.

Coming to your next Delta flight…

We are excited to announce that a 45-minute broadcast special of the 2023 Global Citizen Festival is available on the Delta Air Lines’ in-flight entertainment system. We are proud to feature fantastic performances from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees, Jung Kook, and more, along with Delta’s impactful stage moment. We are proud to collaborate with Delta Air Lines to provide Delta flyers the chance to witness Delta’s leadership on driving the airline industry toward a more sustainable future.

My Weekend Reading List

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 regularly.

Til later this week,

Mick