Mumbai: The announcements and commitments, made at the Global Citizen Festival held for the first time in India, are set to affect 500 million people (50 crore) people, with a collective value of US 3.37 billion dollars (INR 22,490 crore).


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A host of world and business leaders, non-profit organizations, socially conscious artists, and thousands of Global Citizens united to kick-start India`s progress toward achieving the Sustainable development goals with a special focus on gender equality, education and water & sanitation.


In just two months since the launch of the Global Citizen India movement, more than 5 lakh young Global Citizens in India took more than 20 lakh actions calling on political, faith and business leaders, along with celebrities, to be more accountable in their efforts to improve education, gender equality and water, sanitation and hygiene in India.


Hugh Evans, CEO, Global Citizen, said: "Global Citizen Festival India showed the power of youth taking action together. More than 500,000 young Global Citizens took more than 2 million actions. And on November 19, we saw the results - dozens of commitments that will affect the lives of 500m people".


He added, "It marks a moment of great celebration, but it is only the beginning of the journey. The growing movement of more than 8 million Global Citizens around the world will keep campaigning to make sure leaders deliver on these promises, and commit to do even more".


Gowri Ishwaran, CEO, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation, said: "The Global Citizen Festival India brought together 70,000 young people who made their voices heard by leaders from private industry, government, non-governmental, community and religious organisations on the issues that matter: Sanitation, Education and Gender Equality. Their incredible 20 lakh actions showed leaders that young people are serious in their commitment to hold them to account to use their resources for social good".


"The commitments made in response show the world that citizen-led change is possible. The commitments made here today are set to impact 50 crore people in India and around the world - and this is just the start," she added.


The commitments were made on following issues:-Gender Equality: Global Citizens took 518,000 actions in support of investing in girls and women to achieve gender equality. These efforts secured 4 commitments that are set to affect the lives of more than for 2 million women, including the International Finance Corporation Banking on Women Group committing 3 billion US dollars towards banking on women and promoting women entrepreneurship by end 2019.


This includes a 100 million US dollars investment in India.-Quality education: Global Citizens took 265,000 actions, and the Global Citizen team advocated privately to businesses to use their expertise and CSR spend, in support of improving the quality of education for children.


In response, six commitments were secured, including HP committing to provide 48 mobile classrooms, investing US$3.6 million to result in 15 million people in rural areas of India getting access to quality education and technology over 6 years.-Water, sanitation and Hygiene: Global Citizens took 651,000 actions calling on government, businesses, faith groups and NGOs to outline how they would deliver on India`s commitment to clean water and sanitation for all, securing 11 commitments and announcements that are set to affect the lives of 486 million people.


Global Citizens will continue to campaign to make sure that leaders deliver on these promises, and that they commit to do even more on the 7 ongoing calls to action that were launched from the stage of the event.


The Global Citizen India movement is a 15-year commitment to catalyse India`s journey to eradicate extreme poverty in line with the SDGs.