SDG 8 aims to achieve sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth with decent work for all.

Africa is currently driving global culture across film, music, and fashion. And yet, investments into Africa’s creative economy to stimulate job creation and skills development remain slow. The creative economy has an estimated global worth of $4.3 trillion and accounts for 6.1% of the global economy. Africa currently accounts for approximately 3% - the upside is huge.

Statistics show that investing in the creative economy (e.g. music, film, food, fashion, digital, podcasting, publishing) can contribute billions of dollars in revenue.

An important aspect of the creator economy that has been underutilized is the touring circuit on the African Continent. "Move Afrika" not only seeks to systemize the touring circuit, but in addition provide tools across creative verticals for Young Africans 18-30 to amplify their talents. By moving from one-off events to the sustained commitment of an annual tour, "Move Afrika" will drive transformative investments across Africa through the pioneering of a world-class touring circuit. Ultimately, it will pave the way for more artists to tour the Continent, while generating new economic opportunities within the entertainment industry for Africa's booming youth generation.

The first "Move Afrika" event took place in Kigali, Rwanda, and was headlined by Kendrick Lamar. "Move Afrika: Rwanda" employed more than 1000 Rwandans, and engaged 75 percent local crew and production staff, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for skill development and international event training, including: set and stage; broadcast production; crew, rigging and security; backing dancers and singers; and more.

As part of its five-year commitment to Rwanda, "Move Afrika" is building upon these collaborations to generate long-term opportunities for local entrepreneurs, and foster long-term partnerships that pave the way for more international artists to perform in Rwanda.

Global Citizen’s mission is to eradicate extreme poverty NOW, which is aligned to the SDG Goal 1. Further to its work to support the achievement of the SDGs, Global Citizen and the production agency launched "Move Afrika".

"Move Afrika" is Global Citizen’s latest effort to further its mission and alleviate the world’s inequities by creating job and entrepreneurship opportunities for the continent’s emerging generations through an annual series of world-class live events. Showcasing the best of Africa to the world, these events will drive transformative investments in community-provided health services within local communities, engage local vendors, agencies, artists and crews, and provide opportunities for on-the-job skill development and training.

This campaign focuses on the key policy goals of promoting equity – specifically in the area of health, defending our planet and its inhabitants, and creating jobs and economic opportunity.

In partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, Kigali, Rwanda will serve as the "Move Afrika" tour’s anchor city every year for the next five years. Each year, additional countries will be added to the tour schedule, which aims to expand to five countries by 2025.

The "Move Afrika" brand values the Young African creator. Priorities include capacity building, fostering skills transfer and championing investment in entrepreneurs within the live entertainment and adjacent sectors.

The brief was to develop a brand and campaign that reinforces the mission. The name “Move Afrika” was created by our African-based staff as a term that embodies the spirit of movement: movement in terms of progress we are capable of making in achieving the Global Goals, and movement in terms of how our bodies react to hearing music. The spelling of "Afrika" with a “K” represents the Swahili spelling.

Objectives are both B2B and B2C, at the campaign and live event level. Measurements include global reach, training, amplification, on-the-ground impact and ticket sales. The emotional benefits of the brand are validation, inspiration, confidence and joy. The brand personality is determined, celebratory, impactful, take action, creative, forward thinking and of the culture.

In a continent that shows continued economic growth and where the median age is just 19 years old, the next decade truly has the potential to be one with Africa at the forefront.

With the increasing export of Afrobeats artists at a global level and their corresponding marketability there has never been more of a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa from a music perspective. However, there was just a modest 9.6% growth in the recorded music market in Sub-Saharan Africa (IFPI Global Music Report 2022) last year compared to 22% in the USA and Canada.

Appetite for touring in Sub-Saharan Africa amongst the highest grossing artists is already high, but predominantly in markets where the commercial opportunity remains low over the course of the next five years. The prospects for a sustainable touring model in those same markets will remain low and slow without impetus and investment from the international community.

Global Citizen created the Pan-African advocacy campaign “Move Afrika”, spelled with a “K” from Swahili, promoting Africa to the world, on December 6th, 2023.

The creative idea leveraged the strength of the Global Citizen brand, while at the same time creating a unique suite of assets to build a new brand. The "Move Afrika" mark has the ability to be locally customized by adding a country specific pattern to our iconic “O” scenic set piece, paying homage to each market.

The guiding principle for the "Move Afrika" event was to collaborate with local creatives across all areas of production. This included set designers, where local fabrics were used as a backdrop; the lighting which utilized a local woven design; the costumes which were created by a local designer, and the dancers, choreographed by a Rwandan dancer. In addition, local artists were engaged to produce marketing and imaging materials.

"Move Afrika: Rwanda" employed 1000 Rwandans, with 75% local crew, creating opportunities for skill development and international event training, including:

Lighting: Traditional Agaseke peace baskets, created by 20 artisans from Nyamirambo Women’s Center hung on-stage as dynamic lighting fixtures.

Broadcast: Rwandan film crew Addictive Vibe shot BTS segments, and design company Guez Show created video packaging.

Rigging: Rwanda Events Group partnered with Unusual Rigging to create new, larger capacity rigging at BK Arena.

Security: World-class training was provided to 15 supervisors in Behavioral Detection Observation.

Dancers and singers: 70 local performers, including many from disadvantaged backgrounds who use their talents to lift their families out of poverty.

Youth Skills: We partnered with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator to recruit, train and upskill 35 people aged 18-25, to gain world-class live music experience.

Tickets for action: 3,764 Rwandans took action to win free tickets, entering the draw 50,411 times.

The "Move Afrika" event was unlike any live show Rwanda has seen before. A light-filled, sold-out BK Arena hosted a spectacular night of music, culture, and advocacy that took East African entertainment to new heights and will be remembered for years to come as the birth of the first pan-African touring circuit for international artists.

Created by international advocacy organization Global Citizen and creative imprint, the production agency, alongside the Rwanda Development Board, the inaugural "Move Afrika: Rwanda" show was headlined by Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winning artist Kendrick Lamar, and showcased the best African artists, creators and entertainers to the world. With every facet of the event's production driving local economic investment, skill training and youth entrepreneurship, the first "Move Afrika" concert signaled the launch of a five-year incremental tour schedule that will pioneer a world-class music touring circuit across the continent, changing the face of live entertainment in Africa.

"Move Afrika" was launched in 2023 to leverage the strength of the Global Citizen brand. 2024 will see the beginning of brand separation, with a focus on building "Move Afrika" as a standalone brand and entity.

The first "Move Afrika" had an overall reach of 7.7. Million and impressions of 2.3 billion.

In addition the event employed more than 1000 Rwandans, and engaged 75 percent local crew and production staff, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for skill development and international event training, including: set and stage; broadcast production; crew, rigging and security; backing dancers and singers; and more.

"Move Afrika" will return to Rwanda for the next 4 years, which enables the live entertainment sector (producers, riggers, light and sound engineers, transportation companies, etc.) with continuity and sustainability so that the sector can grow.

In 2024, "Move Afrika" will also expand to Ghana, and one additional market, for a total of three countries. In 2025, this will go up to 5 countries, thus creating the framework for a cross-continent "Move Afrika" tour. At the same time, this will also open the opportunity for other artists to take advantage of the infrastructure established by "Move Afrika" for their own terms.

Success for this endeavor is two fold: the number of jobs created and people trained; the number of international artists who come and start touring the continent.

Based on resources and location, the carbon was not measured; however, the event and campaign engaged in many efforts related to sustainable development . Considerable attention was given to hiring as many local crew as possible, reducing the need to travel international crew to the market. The concert and side events were all made sustainable via reduced single use plastic products and electric vehicles for ground transport wherever possible. In addition all original elements of the set were recycled into bags which reduced unnecessary waste and additionally created a revenue stream for artisans working on the project.