ABOUT GLOBAL CITIZEN
Global Citizen is a tool to amplify and unite a generation’s call for justice. It’s a place for you to learn, and act, to bring an end to extreme poverty.
Global Citizens know that a world that deprives 1.3 billion people of their basic rights and opportunities is unjust and unacceptable. We celebrate the efforts made to cut extreme poverty by half, but recognise more still needs to be done. We know that people living in extreme poverty are working hard themselves, and that we need to learn and take action to change the rules that trap them in broken systems.
We use Global Citizen to learn more about issues, so we can take effective action for change and find opportunities to support campaigns and organisations creating sustainable change. Right now Global Citizen is in launch phase, but in coming weeks and months it will feature new issues, with the latest information and action opportunities, so you can take effective action for change.
Every person has a part to play in writing the story of the end of extreme poverty. Become a Global Citizen, and start your journey here, today.
Action & Campaigning Summary
There are two types of actions on the site, both being vital to the success of a movement to end extreme poverty.
1. Education and Support
Ending extreme poverty won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy. To achieve it, we need a movement of committed and educated Global Citizens who know that good intentions need to be backed up with good policy ideas, good data, and good people.
All of the content on the site is organised under thirteen different issues that encompass the variety of topics that are essential to defeating poverty, including the eight Millennium Development Goals of food and hunger, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, fighting diseases, water and sanitation, environmental sustainability and global partnerships, plus the issues of fighting corruption, effective governance, polio eradication and fair trade.
2. Advocacy Campaigning
Throughout the year, Global Citizen supports campaigns that call on citizens, businesses and governments to change the systems that keep people in extreme poverty. These campaigns ask Global Citizens to sign petitions, email, call and meet political and business leaders, and attend events.
Although the contribution that each of us can make to these campaigns is small, together, we know they make a huge difference. The End of Polio is campaigning to eradicate the highly-infectious disease of polio, and has been supported by 50,000 Global Citizens in the last year. These efforts, added to the efforts of others campaigning on polio, saw more than $4 billion pledged in April 2013, getting the world much of the way towards having the $5.5 billion that is needed to eradicate polio forever by 2018.
Right now, the focus campaigns on Global Citizen are:
Live Below the Line: Could you live on $1.50 a day for food and drink for 5 days? We’re challenging the way people think about extreme poverty by asking you to Live Below the Line, and glimpse what live is like for the 1.2 billion people who live every day below the line, not just for food and drink, but for everything in life. Sign-up to the challenge and raise at least $20 for one of our partner charities to invest in fighting poverty, and you’ll get 20 points on Global Citizen.
Family Planning: In July 2012, governments, foundations and civil society came together to change the world, pledging $2.6 billion to ensure that more than 100 million women and girls around the world would get much needed access to contraceptives and information about family planning. Our campaign is all about building and demonstrating demand for our leaders to deliver on these promises.
In the coming months, Global Citizen will also be campaigning on specific, measurable and winnable funding and policy changes around the issues of:
1. Improving access to life-saving vaccines;
2. Training up one million more health workers in Africa;
3. Getting the 61 million kids who are currently missing school a decent education; and
4. Increasing the quality of information that companies publish about their supply chains, so we really know where our products are coming from.
HOW IT WORKS
Global Citizen is a learning and action tool designed to help you become a more effective agent for change.
Developed in partnership with leading organisations working to fight extreme poverty in the developing world, Global Citizen brings everything you need to know about extreme poverty into one place, and then helps you keep track of the issues and opportunities you care about.
When you learn or take action on Global Citizen you’ll receive points – shown in the little circles above some buttons. With these points you’ll be able to earn rewards – opportunities to amplify your impact – as well as badges that show the world you’re taking action.
Points are given on the basis of how complex different actions are, so for example, you might earn the following points for different actions:
• Watching a short video on an issue related to extreme poverty (1 point)
• Sharing a video about extreme poverty on social networks (1 point)
• Adding your voice to a petition (3 points)
• Buying Fairtrade products (3 points)
• Calling your representatives (10 points), or emailing your representatives (5 points)
As you navigate around the site, you’ll see that you’re recommended content based on types of issues and actions you’ve already taken, and what you’re likely to be interested in. You may also notice little coloured labels like the below on some pages - click on these, and you can navigate across content of a similar level and complexity - a great way to get to know how all the issues fit together.
WHO IS BEHIND IT?
Global Citizen is powered by the Global Poverty Project. We're a not-for-profit organization whose vision is much like yours: to live in a world without extreme poverty.
We know that extreme poverty is an injustice that can be ended. And we’re working to make it happen by building a global movement for change. We’re working to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty. We utilize the power of education, communication, advocacy, campaigns and the media to advance the movement to end extreme poverty.
You can learn all about us – our history, track record, Annual Financial Review – on our website.