Mumbai: Global Citizen, a social action platform, and The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), has launched the Global Citizen India platform. The platform will comprise a distinctive mix of events, grassroots activism, media campaigning and online activation, to catalyse India’s journey towards achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and to bring about the end of extreme poverty. The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India, to be held in Mumbai on 19th November 2016, will be Global Citizen India’s first initiative, and will be headlined by Coldplay, Jay Z, Aamir Khan, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, AR Rahman, Farhan Akhtar, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Arijit Singh, Dia Mirza, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Monali Thakur. Several major artists and international guests will be announced at different stages of the campaign.
The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India is presented by COLORS Viacom18. The festival is being produced by Wizcraft International and enjoys a strategic partnership with the Viacom18 Group and the Times of India Group.
Global Citizen India will offer a wide cross-section of content and actions focused on creating meaningful impact in three key areas: Quality Education, Gender Equality, and Clean Water & Sanitation.
Shiv Khemka, Chairman, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF) believes that India and its 800 million young people must play a vital role in the mission to achieve the Global Goals: ”Young people are starting to engage with the challenges facing our country and the planet, and are becoming increasingly committed to taking action for social change. TGELF’s mission is to nurture and support ethical, altruistic and decisive leadership amongst young people at schools and colleges. Each one of us is responsible for our actions and the power of each action taken collectively can help achieve the global goals.”
Global Citizen, which has mobilized millions since its inception in New York City in 2012, has a unique capacity to amplify the voices of Global Citizens through social media. In the past four years of this movement, actions taken by Global Citizens has led to commitments from governments, corporates and partners are set to affect the lives of 656 million people. It leverages the voices of Global Citizens to influence world leaders and decision makers to enact policy changes and commit significant resources to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.
“The years I spent living and working in India as a teenager were a key catalyst of my passion for challenging the status quo of poverty alleviation. So bringing the Global Citizen movement to India is a moment many years in the making. Sixty-five percent of India’s population is under the age of 35 – that’s 800 million young people who can drive serious change for generations to come. Global Citizen India will engage these young people to drive behavioural change at scale through their individual actions, impact policy through commitments by governments, and amplify India’s voice to the world in its commitment to achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.” – Hugh Evans, CEO, Global Citizen
Commenting on Viacom18’s strategic partnership with tGELF, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, “India is at a powerful confluence in its history. We are one of the oldest civilizations with one of the youngest populations in the world. As we work to realize our Honorable PM Shri Narendra Modiji’s vision of India emerging as the Vishwa Guru in the 21st century, it becomes imperative for us to work with all sections of society. Viacom18, as an organization with a heart, is committed to harnessing the power of partnerships to realize this dream. Our support to tGELF is a natural extension of our work and purpose and I hope to amplify the messages around the causes of Quality Education, Gender Equality and Clean water & sanitation with this initiative.”
Along with Maharashatra CM Shri Devendra Fadnavis celebrated Indian actors and personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor. Coldplay’s Chris Martin also shared his enthusiasm about the festival via a video message.
Viacom18 will be leveraging its foremost brands across all platforms to promote the inaugural festival. While the network will use its popular channels and digital platform to promote the festival, COLORS, MTV, Vh1, COLORS Infinity and Voot will be airing the festival on their respective platforms. The Times of India Group and the Times TV Network will be leveraging the group’s print, internet and television platforms to highlight and showcase both the magic and the success of the Global Citizen India initiatives.
Google is partnering the Global Citizen India initiative to address the issues of Gender Equality and women’s empowerment.
Global Citizen India is a collaboration between The Global Education & Leadership Foundation and Global Citizen. The partners include Government of Maharashtra, United Nations, Viacom18, Wizcraft International Entertainment, and Times of India Group, UPL, Google, Taj Group of Hotels, BookMyShow and MakeMyTrip.
Wizcraft commenting on the association, Sabbas Joseph, Founder-Director Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., said, “Global Citizen India movement is the first such platform wherein popular culture meets public policy. Empowered by youth it is a platform for key influencers to respond to voices of millions of people committed to making a positive impact. It is particularly exciting to work alongside the young inspired tGELF team to mobilise influencers from the government, corporate sector, non-profits and the Entertainment Industry to join the campaign. We are especially pleased to showcase the coming together of India’s most powerful entertainers with the world’s most influential policy makers.”
People across India are invited to sign-up, take actions, and enter the prize draws for their tickets. More than eighty percent of the tickets to the festival will be given out to Global Citizens who earn them by taking action.
