Global Citizen is a movement that’s laser focused on ending extreme poverty while promoting social justice and sustainability. And for Global Citizen, solving these issues is everyone’s responsibility.
For Saturday’s 2024 Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park, that included music’s megastars — including Post Malone, Doja Cat, and Chris Martin — as well as government leaders, scientists, activists, executives from conscious corporations, and thousands of everyday citizens. All braved a steady rain to learn, educate, appeal for action, and, of course, enjoy the music.
On the corporate front, Cisco has been a key partner to Global Citizen since 2018. And some top Cisco leaders were on hand to share their thoughts on Cisco’s far-reaching work around the world.
Fran Katsoudas, Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people, policy, and purpose officer, took to a very wet stage with the actress and Global Citizen Ambassador Rachel Brosnahan and Monica Naim, a Cisco employee who was once unhoused, to speak about the company’s efforts to battle homelessness — for example, through its $2 million goal with the Covenant House Sleep Out.
In a separate interview, Katsoudas shared her thoughts on Cisco’s alignment with Global Citizen.
“Our partnership with Global Citizen is based on three key areas,” she explained. “They are the shared belief that we have to do more to eradicate extreme poverty. The second area of focus is on how we protect the planet, which is something that we believe in very strongly from a Cisco perspective. And then lastly, economic inclusion. And so, we work with Global Citizen on each of these areas.”
It's a partnership firmly rooted in shared values and common commitment.
“Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all,” added Brian Tippens, Cisco’s SVP and Chief social impact and inclusion officer. “And we’re so aligned with the mission of Global Citizen to eradicate extreme poverty in our lifetime. We partner on so many different levels and they're key to our ability to reach communities on a global basis.”
Adding his own thoughts on the close alignment of the two organizations was Lucas Turner, Global Citizen’s vice president of global corporate partnerships.
“Since we started partnering with Cisco,” he said, “our impact has reached far and wide. We both believe in the power of the collective to have an impact, so that means all people around the world. As a technology company, Cisco knows it can do good by providing access to connectivity and technology skills. And it is very inspiring how Cisco employees take action on some of the world’s most pressing issues through Global Citizen’s app. It highlights how they really believe in Cisco’s purpose.”
Changing the world, with help from technology and education
Cisco’s deep and varied approach in helping solve global challenges runs the gamut from its own stringent Net Zero 2024 goals and innovations to support sustainability to its efforts to close the digital divide and upskill underserved populations.
As Cisco’s senior vice president and global innovation officer, Guy Diedrich leads two of the company’s most impactful forces for positive global change. Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program has worked with governments, academia, and industries to help transform more than 50 countries around the world — that includes modernizing healthcare, governance, infrastructures, and more. And the Cisco Networking Academy has trained more than 23 million people with skills in networking, security, and other tech-related areas — skills that help transform individual lives, local communities, and entire nations.
“An educated population is desperately important to the longevity and prosperity of countries,” Diedrich stressed, “but it's also the great leveler. If you have skills, it doesn't matter about your past. It doesn't matter what you learned up to that point. If you can sit down and take a Networking Academy program and you can get that certification, a Cisco Networking Academy certification is a golden ticket to opportunities that can literally change lives.”
Dietrich further explained the gaping shortage in global technology skills that Networking Academy is helping to close — with 3 million unfilled positions in cybersecurity alone and 3 billion on the planet who remain unconnected.
“Cybersecurity doesn’t pick favorites,” Diedrich continued, “and it doesn't know borders. And so if you are in the developing world, you too are a target. Those young people that take cybersecurity training, that stay in their country and help protect their country are providing a vital service for their homeland.”
Rewarding the young and the innovative
Global Citizen is all about empowering young people around the world — to rise out of poverty, gain skills, education, and healthcare, and to help solve the biggest problems in their communities and across the world.
To that end, Cisco’s Youth Leadership Award grants $250,000 to young innovators with impactful solutions waiting to be scaled.
This year’s winner, Ricardo Enrique Alba Torres, is a recently graduated environmental engineer from Bogota, Columbia, who is CEO and cofounder of Eko Group H2O+. Alba Torres was inspired to action when he experienced climate-related water shortages in his communities. That, combined with piles of plastic trash, sparked a simple, inexpensive, yet ingenious idea: using discarded water bottles to create a modular, expandable water-filtration system.
Alba Torres is especially excited about what he and his team can accomplish with Cisco’s support — in Columbia and beyond and by incorporating new technologies like AI and Internet of Things.
“We want to help change the world,” Alba Tores said. “In Colombia right now, we have near to 14 million people that don't have access to good quality of water and sanitation, and we are here to transform their lives.”
Tippens believes that Alba Torres’s solution stood out for its potential in the developing world, where many underserved communities are feeling the effects of climate-related droughts, storms, and poor sanitation.
“Lamentably, it is frequently the poorest that suffer disproportionately from climate change,” he explained. “I think the concepts of social impact and social justice are very much related to concepts of environmental sustainability and climate. Inside Cisco. We've got teams that are thinking about environmental sustainability, working diligently inside of our own operations towards a net zero carbon footprint by 2040. But we also work externally in communities to be able to be a force for good in those underserved communities in terms of justice and climate impacts inside the Cisco Foundation, with $100 million Climate Fund.”
Expanding the reach
Turner is excited about what Cisco and Global Citizen have accomplished — and, especially, what’s to come.
“Cisco really believes in its purpose and backs it up with things like the Networking Academy,” he said. “As Global Citizen has expanded its reach into the continent of Africa and other places, like the South Pacific, Cisco has been right there with us, whether it be through education, expanding connectivity, or supporting young talent and entrepreneurs.”
As Katsoudas emphasized, much of the planet’s future depends on the great potential of young people in developing regions like Africa. Empowering them will be paramount, and she believes that emerging technologies like AI — if used responsibly — can make a huge difference.
“The intersection of AI with humanity and purpose can be very powerful,” she said. “We can leverage AI to help get people get connected securely and to address the digital divide.”
However technology evolves, Cisco will be using it for the common good.
“We are a company of Global Citizens,” Katsoudas concluded. “And the opportunity for us to come together to accelerate progress in the areas of poverty, the planet, and economic inclusion will always be really important to us.”
