The 2022 Global Citizen Festival that took place at the weekend in Accra, Ghana was a reminder of how music and philanthropy are a winning combination when it comes to finding a way to help the needy on a global scale.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba said for her philanthropy her started, and before she truly understood what it entailed, with her mother Maryam Egal modelling it for her and her siblings.
“Philanthropy started at home. My mom has always had a strong humanitarian spirit and has been an activist as long as I can remember. She instilled that in us, in my brother and sisters. She always explained the importance of giving back, especially to our continent.”
Not everybody can lend a dollar but everybody can lend a voice.
— Model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba
Dhowre Elba hails from Somalia and said her mother made it her life’s passion to go back there whenever she can to lend a hand or give her voice where needed, and she is following in her mother’s footsteps.
The model spoke about the importance of organisations such as Global Citizen. Its existence, she said, helped people who would usually feel helpless by giving them a way to use what they can to push for the change they want to see in their world.
“It is really important because not everybody can lend a dollar, but everybody can lend a voice. Giving people, especially the youth, a platform to speak about what they care about is important.
“It is the people who are going to push change. We need to pressure world leaders everywhere to do what we need them to do, which is step up.
Ghanaian media personality Berla Mundi, who was one of the hosts at the festival, said she believed using her voice was the best contribution she could make to changing the world for the better.
“From the first day I started my TV and radio career, my activism began. Everything I’ve said, on every platform I mounted, every time I spoke to young women across the world, I said if I I can do it, you can do it as well.
“You don’t have to be actively involved before you realise you are making a change. Your life story is enough to help people understand that if you can change things around you for the better, they can use everything around them to change their lives for the better,” Mundi said.
While fun was the order of the day every time impressive headliners including Usher, Tems, SZA, Sarkodie, DJ Uncle Waffles and Stormzy took to the stage, the mission was never forgotten.
The focus of this year’s festival was on empowering women and girls, supporting smallholder farmers and curbing the global hunger crisis, strengthening health systems, providing urgent relief from debt unjustly crushing economies and defending advocacy and civic space.
According to the Global Citizen website, the 2022 Global Citizen Festival campaign, which came to a head at twin festival events in New York and Accra, culminated in $2.4bn (about R44bn) to end extreme poverty, with key commitments announced on festival stages from world leaders, governments and corporate, philanthropic and NGO partners.
More than $440m (about R8bn) has been earmarked exclusively for initiatives to end extreme poverty in Africa.
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