Activate: The Global Citizen Movement, Sundays on National Geographic

The Activate Gala Dinner hosted by National Geographic, in partnership with P&G and Global Citizen, took place in Johannesburg last night (12 September 2019), In celebration of the premiere of Activate: The Global Citizen Movement this September. Bonang Matheba, Global Citizen ambassador, was the guest of honour and delivered the keynote address.

National Geographic announced that Activate: The Global Citizen Movement, the six-part documentary series from National Geographic and Procter & Gamble, co-produced by Global Citizen and RadicalMedia, will premiere 15 September at 20h00.

Activate is a multiplatform storytelling partnership and six-part documentary series — bolstered by custom content distributed across National Geographic’s unrivaled social, digital, linear and print channels. It will raise awareness about extreme poverty, inequality and sustainability issues to mobilise Global Citizens to drive meaningful and lasting change on the Global Citizen platform.

Each episode delves into a different issue connected to the root causes of extreme poverty, following a specific Global Citizen campaign and the organisers, amplifiers, grassroots activists, action-takers and people whose lives are being changed. Episode topics include eradicating extreme poverty, ending cash bail, breaking down barriers to girls’ education, funding education for displaced children, ending plastic pollution and helping solve the water crisis.

The “Keeping Girls in School” episode was filmed with Bonang Matheba and Gayle King in Johannesburg, and looks at the menstruation-related barriers to girls’ education, and how P&G’s Always Keeping Girls in School programme helps address this through providing puberty education and menstrual hygiene products.

Activate will take audiences from the Global Citizen Festival stages to the frontlines of change around the world while spotlighting real-time efforts to address issues related to extreme poverty. Through the eyes of activists including Hugh Jackman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Becky G, Usher, Common, Rachel Brosnahan, Gayle King, Bonang Matheba, Pharrell Williams, Darren Criss and Uzo Aduba, and told through the iconic storytelling lens of National Geographic, viewers will hear the stories, meet the people and witness first-hand the work that is being done to combat extreme poverty and inspire a global movement.

The series has been filmed in Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines and South Africa, and across the United States in California, New York, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

The Activate partnership is the result of a shared commitment National Geographic, P&G and Global Citizen have made to leverage their collective influence, audience and scale to both raise awareness and inspire a global community to take action.

For more than 10 years, Global Citizen has been working to defeat extreme poverty through advocacy and citizen engagement, motivating businesses, organizations and governments to make financial commitments and policy changes to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. At the same time, P&G has a rich history of leveraging its brands and its people as a force for good to make the world a better place by helping solve critical issues related to girls’ education, clean drinking water, disaster relief, sustainability and inequality. And for more than 130 years, National Geographic has utilised its powerful imagery and impact storytelling to help audiences around the globe understand the world around them so that, in turn, they care more about it.

The multiplatform Activate storytelling partnership will expand beyond the documentary series to include a 10-page custom print section for Activate in the September issue of National Geographic magazine as well as custom story stretches aligned to each episode, custom digital articles and social media moments highlighting various is-sues within Activate.

The partnership will also include digital hubs on NatGeo.com and GlobalCitizen.org for viewers who would like to dive deeper into the six critical issues highlighted in the series. Viewers will be able to take action on Global Citizen campaigns, earn rewards and learn more about P&G’s brand impact efforts led by Tide, Always, Head & Shoulders, Charmin and more.

The Activate series will illustrate experimentation with new content and distribution models, and new ways to mobilise viewers across the world.

“The issues highlighted by Activate have a real place here in Africa, and we look forward to engaging with audiences through the series and our digital platforms to stimulate positive change,” said Evert van der Veer, for Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company, Africa.

Episodes descriptions:

Activate: Eradicating Extreme Poverty
Hugh Jackman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Becky G join Global Citizen in campaigns to push world leaders into enacting policy changes that would end extreme poverty around the globe. As Jackman prepares for the organisation’s massive Central Park festival, Becky G travels to Mexico to amplify Global Citizen’s campaign to push companies to support women-owned businesses. Experts describe the state of extreme poverty around the world, the enormous progress that’s been made in the past 20 years and innovative solutions being implemented across the globe, including P&G’s supply chain diversity sourcing efforts.

Activate: Ending Cash Bail
Artists and activists Common and Usher team up with Global Citizen and grassroots organisers as they attempt to achieve historic criminal justice reform by ending the use of cash bail in New York state.

Activate: Education Cannot Wait
Emmy Award-winning actor Rachel Brosnahan teams up with Global Citizen and travels to the border of Peru to see what happens to children’s education during conflicts and natural disasters. After an emotional experience with displaced families, Brosnahan and Global Citizen return to the US, where they urge Ireland, the UK and the US to pledge millions to Education Cannot Wait, a global fund for education during crises. Experts describe the disproportionate impact that natural disasters and conflict have on developing countries and ways people and brands around the world, like Tide, are providing effective relief during emergencies.

Activate: Keeping Girls in School
Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins Global Citizen and activists around the globe as they campaign to break down barriers to girls’ education. Meanwhile, Gayle King and Bonang Matheba rally tens of thousands of people to call on the South African government to commit $58 million toward ending “period poverty” and providing girls with the menstrual education and resources they need to stay in school and stay confident. Experts describe the broad range of issues that keep girls from getting an education in developing countries, and the enormous progress that’s being made around the world, like the work by feminine care product brand Always to provide free educational resources.

Activate: Ending Plastic Pollution
Pharrell Williams joins Global Citizen’s push to get governments, companies and individuals to solve the ocean plastic pollution crisis. Meanwhile, Darren Criss travels to the Philippines to witness plastic’s impact on people living in extreme poverty and calls on global citizens to urge their mayors to commit their cities to zero-waste futures. Experts describe the disproportionate impact of plastic pollution on people in developing countries and the ways people and brands, like Head & Shoulders, are solving the problem around the world.

Activate: Clean Water
“Orange Is the New Black” star Uzo Aduba joins Global Citizen as they rally millions around the world to push for clean drinking water and proper sanitation for the world’s most vulnerable people. They travel to Aduba’s parents’ homeland of Nigeria, where they urge governors to commit state funds to eradicate the contaminated water and open defecation crises. Experts describe the effects of contaminated drinking water on people in developing countries and solutions being implemented around the world, including P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme.