Explainer: what you should know about Global Citizen Festival
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Kendrick Lamar will headline Move Afrika on December 6. Net photo

Global Citizen is launching a first of its kind international music touring circuit across the African continent. In partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Rwanda will be hosting ‘Move Afrika’ every year for the next five years and each year, additional countries will be added to the tour schedule with a goal of expanding it to five countries by 2025.

The very first show of ‘Move Africa’ will take place on December 6, at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, headlined by Grammy Award winning star Kendrick Lamar, while his PgLang, an independent multi creative services company specialized in music and visual media production, will serve as the curator of the tour for the next five years, from 2023 until 2028.

What is Global Citizen Festival?

Global Citizen Festival is an annual music festival where fans take actions toward ending extreme poverty in order to earn free tickets. The festivals bring together Global Citizens, artists, activists, world leaders, philanthropists, corporate leaders, and more, with one collective mission dubbed ‘end extreme poverty now’.

Global Citizen Festival is timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly to leverage opportunities to get policy and financial commitments from government, corporate and philanthropic leaders to defeat poverty, demand equity and defend the planet.

What will Move Afrika focus on?

The inaugural event, Move Afrika: Rwanda will focus on the need to strengthen health systems, with a specific emphasis on supporting community health workers; addressing the climate crisis, particularly its impact on food security, and securing support for smallholder farmers; and tackling the lack of access to economic opportunities for future generations.

How to get tickets to Move Afrika: Rwanda

You can either purchase priority tickets, or enter to win tickets to Move Afrika: Rwanda by taking action on the Global Citizen app or the Global Citizen website. You can take action such as signing petitions, participating in journeys on the app, sharing messages on social media, writing letters to politicians, taking action in your community among others. With every action you take, you’ll win points that you can redeem for entries for a chance to win tickets to Move Afrika: Rwanda.

There is a WhatsApp number provided to those who want to take the action. To take the action on the app, save the number +250 790 008 555 and an action to take at the beginning of each week will be sent. Winners will receive an email from November 15 to November 29.

What you should know about Global Citizen

Global Citizen is the world's largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty now. The voices of millions of Global Citizens around the world are driving lasting change towards sustainability, equality, and humanity by taking action every day.

What is the Global Citizen Festival campaign calling for?

The Global Citizen Festival campaign is taking aim at the major global challenges that are perpetuating poverty, including the climate crisis and its disproportionate impact on the Global South; the inequities facing women and girls around the world; and the global hunger crisis.

Global Citizen’s impact on Rwanda

As revealed by Francis Gatare, Chief Executive Officer of RDB, in a media statement released on November 3, together with Global Citizen and Move Afrika, they will position Rwanda as an entertainment hub for all African countries to benefit from the global creative industry. Experiences that address development priorities of our continent, creating employment and income generating initiatives of the private sector, with a spotlight on the youth, is Rwanda Development Board’s core mandate.