Metallica, Mariah Carey, Jonas Brothers, Charlie Puth, Mneskin, Mickey Guyton and Rosalia set to perform at Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park on 24 September 2022 - Hosted by Global Citizen Ambassador Priyanka Chopra Jonas

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Education Cannot Wait (ECW) - the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises - is proud to support and participate in the 2022 Global Citizen Festival.

Participants will call on world leaders at the UN General Assembly to step up and invest $600 million into the future of women and girls, close the annual $10 billion climate financing shortfall, deliver $500 million to help African farmers respond to the global food crisis, and provide relief from crushing debts to End Extreme Poverty Now.

"Decades of systemic and political failures have led humanity into the midst of converging and rapidly deteriorating crises - climate, hunger, health, war and conflict. Millions of lives, and the future of our planet, are at stake. We refuse to just stand by and watch!" said Hugh Evans, Co-Founder and CEO, Global Citizen.

In the last two years, more than 47 million women and girls have been pushed back into extreme poverty, and the pandemic has forced millions of girls out of the classroom and into unpaid care work. Donors can change this by pledging $600 million in financial support towards Education Cannot Wait and other partners to support new policies addressing access to education and other related issues.

"The number of crisis-affected, school-aged children requiring urgent education support has grown from an estimated 75 million in 2016 to 222 million today. This is unacceptable. With global citizens, and through ECW's #222MillionDreams campaign, we call on donors, the private sector, philanthropic foundations and high-net-worth individuals to urgently mobilize more resources to further scale up ECW and our strategic partners work to deliver quality education to crisis-affected girls and boys around the world," said Yasmine Sherif, Director, Education Cannot Wait.

Performers on the Central Park stage in New York will include Metallica, Charlie Puth, Jonas Brothers, Mneskin and Mariah Carey. Marking the 65th anniversary of Ghana's independence and the 20th anniversary of the African Union, Accra's iconic Black Star Square will see live performances from Usher, SZA, Stormzy, Gyakie, H.E.R., Sarkodie, Stonebwoy and TEMS with more to be announced.

Tickets to the festivals are free and can be earned by downloading the Global Citizen app or visiting www.globalcitizen.org to take action on the campaign's issues.

Note to Editors

About Education Cannot Wait (ECW):

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. We support quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind.

Additional information available at: www.educationcannotwait.org

SOURCE Education Cannot Wait