Lady Gaga, Global Citizen and Cisco join forces to fight pandemic

People around the globe have made the shift to staying and working from home, including employees, students, and celebrities as well.  In an effort to encourage more people to stay home and reduce the spread of COVID-19, non-profit Global Citizen introduced its #TogetherAtHome campaign, where artists, actors, and influencers can use their platform to virtually meet people inside their homes, as well as combat isolation as some are likely apart from friends, family, and colleagues. On April 6th, singer Lady Gaga took to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) daily press briefing to announce One World: Together at Home, a special one-night event that supports the WHO’s global fight against the pandemic.

Cisco is a proud partner of Global Citizen, WHO, and the UN Foundation, and will be committing another $5 million to the WHO COVID-19 response, as a part of the One World: Together at Home campaign. The 2-hour event on April 18^th will be curated by artists like Lady Gaga, Chris Martin, John Legend, and more, and will also include pledges from partners like Cisco to the WHO Solidarity Response Fund. These real-time commitments from global leaders will be able to create immediate change on the ground, helping support and equip healthcare workers and local charities that provide food, shelter, and healthcare. You can watch the event on YouTube, NBC, ABC, and CBS from 8 to 10pm EST.

One World: Together at Home is a call to action of kindness and compassion to those most vulnerable in our communities. In addition to Cisco’s $5 million commitment, the company has contributed $227 million to the COVID-19 response, providing cash grants; matching gifts; and free products and technology solutions to first responders, hospitals, schools, governments, and businesses. Cisco has also taken on new initiatives to help, like 3D printing face shields for healthcare workers, and sanitizing and re-purposing video conferencing equipment from Cisco offices and placing them into doctor’s offices.

Global Citizen has been working to empower citizens around the world to make real, positive changes, like ending extreme poverty by the year 2030. Cisco and Global Citizen have been in partnership for years to amplify leaders and movements that change the world for good. Before the current stay-at-home movement, Global Citizen joined musical artists, actors, and world leaders together for their annual festivals—it’s here that Cisco also provided network capabilities to festival attendees and even announced commitments towards education. The Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership award was also jointly created by both organizations to uplift and support young leaders around the world who are actively achieving the UN’s Global Goals.

See also: Cisco commits $225 million to help fight COVID-19

At Global Citizen’s most recent New York City festival, Chief People Officer Fran Katsoudas took the stage with the first Cisco Youth Leadership award winner Wawira Njiru, who won the award for her work with Food 4 Education. Katsoudas announced that Cisco is committing $1 million over four years for the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award, helping young changemakers like Njiru create waves of good in their communities. 2019’s winner Priya Prakash is the founder and CEO of HealthSetGo, India’s largest healthcare organization that ensures every child in India grows healthy and disease-free.

Cisco also helped bring Wi-Fi to the Global Citizen Festival in 2019. Cisco Networking Academy students were brought on-site to set up the wireless network so that attendees could enjoy seamless connectivity while enjoying the concert.

Although in-person events and festivals may be on hold for the moment, we can enjoy the artists through the series and one-night event as we all stay #TogetherAtHome.

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by Stephanie Chan

Used with the permission of http://thenetwork.cisco.com/