Humanitarians enlist entertainers and creators to reach impassioned youth during United Nations week

NEW YORK (AP) — A lively discussion broke out backstage during Climate Week NYC between a TikTok comedian, a buzzed-about actress, a Latin cuisine entrepreneur and a cooking content creator.

Convened by World Food Program USA to educate the panel's audiences — over 1.8 million Instagram followers combined — about hunger, the four weighed best practices for authentically breaking down weighty topics on social media.

“I want to force myself to be more active on TikTok,” said “ Avatar: The Way of Water ” star Bailey Bass. Users “have a thought, and they are talking on their phone, and they post it. It feels very palpable.”

“But how do you know this is true?” asked Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, who co-founded the culinary brand Toma with his mother and actress Sofia Vergara. "This is just a person talking.”

“But it’s someone you can relate with, so there’s a level of trust,” added Drea Okeke, a Nigerian-American engineer turned social media star with over 6 million TikTok followers.

The exchange underscored the questions faced by the humanitarian establishment as they try to reach younger, more environmentally conscious generations who — they routinely acknowledged throughout the many events unfolding this week alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York — are tasked with digging the world out of the hole left by years of climate inaction.

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates acknowledged as much at a Thursday Q&A promoting his new Netflix show. “We have left some real challenges for this next generation,” acknowledged Gates, who runs one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations.

Young people with large online followings can be good “placeholders” for older institutions seeking relevance with new generations, said Wawa Gatheru. The Kenyan-American activist regularly uses Instagram to promote Black Girl Environmentalist, the national community she founded to diversify the climate movement’s leadership pipeline.

But Gatheru cautioned against looping “any young person who is visible online as an influencer” or, alternatively, cheapening youth leaders’ expertise simply because they are active online.

“In order to do it well and effectively and not be tokenistic, it’s so important to see young people as collaborators, young people as capable,” she told The Associated Press.

“Content creator” lanyards hung from some Clinton Global Initiative attendees’ necks in a new feature of the yearly gathering hosted by the former First Family's philanthropic foundation.

The two-day event marked the first time that organizers intentionally dedicated space for influencers to collaborate. It came from the recognition that creators help shape how “millions of people relate to others and understand their world,” according to Clinton Foundation Chief Brand and Digital Officer Francesca Ernst-Khan.

There, during a conversation about diverse storytelling’s impact on social movements, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Shonda Rhimes how to propel people toward action when their attention is splintered across so many different platforms.

Rhimes, the award-winning showrunner behind television hits “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” said that “if you can entertain people, you can teach them anything.” Supplementary videos on apps like TikTok, she said, can reach people that the original content was “never going to reach.”

“If you can place an emotional narrative on any issue — if you can put a face to it, if you can create a character for it, if you can show a struggle that inspires — you can really grab someone’s attention,” Rhimes said.

It's an approach long championed by Global Citizen, the international antipoverty nonprofit that returned to New York's Central Park on Saturday for its annual music festival headlined this year by Post Malone.

Emceed by longtime ambassador Hugh Jackman, the festival featured appearances from celebrities and new commitments from world leaders. Bill Nye “The Science Guy," renowned conservationist Jane Goodall and DJ Khaled all graced the stage at different points. English pop star Ed Sheeran surprised the crowd by performing several hits with Coldplay’s Chris Martin in an unbilled late-night set.

The event generated $1 billion, according to Global Citizen. Denmark Minister of Finance Nicolai Wammen announced his nation would send over $491 million to the World Bank’s International Development Association. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged a combined $530 million for global vaccine alliance Gavi and food-focused humanitarian aid.

Organizers focused on mobilizing young people and offered free entry on the mobile app in exchange for acts such as volunteering or signing petitions.

“I know so many of you joined me in taking action to earn your tickets to be here tonight," Grammy-winning rapper-singer Doja Cat said in the middle of her set. "But we can't stop now. Please keep using your voice to help those fleeing violence to get the food, shelter and education they need and very, very much deserve.”

Calls to action are needed more often in online spaces, according to Navin Durbhakula. The Harvard senior's nonprofit seeks to build more sustainable food systems.

Durbhakula finds that much of the climate-related information shared on social media is “geared towards cynicism," which he said is an important “wake-up call."

“We know that there are not many things that we can do as people who are young and probably don't have access to the same spaces” as professionals," he said. “But how do we use our voice to raise awareness, to spread more of the important information?”

The four members of the World Food Program USA's Zero Hunger Activist Council shared clips over the weekend from their Climate Week panel. Bass said WFP — which describes itself as the largest humanitarian organization implementing school-meal programs — has very little name recognition despite its vast work.

Bass said it's especially “vital” to spread its message because WFP does not have the funds to meet its current goals.

Rebecca Middleton, World Food Program USA's chief advocacy and engagement officer, said the goal is to leverage young peoples' influence across age ranges.

“They get a sense of frustration with some of the older generations. I’m Gen X and we didn’t fix it,” she told AP. “It’s not that Gen Z is going to fix it. But I think that Gen Z is going to be the catalyst for the solutions we’re looking for as a country and as a world.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Raye performs during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Danai Gurira speaks during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Rauw Alejandro performs during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

LISA performs during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Doja Cat performs during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Global Citizen co-founder Hugh Evans, left, and Hugh Jackman speak during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah has confirmed that another of its senior leaders was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The Israeli military said earlier Sunday that it had killed Nabil Kaouk in an airstrike the day before.

He is the seventh senior leader of the Lebanese militant group to be killed since Sept. 20, including Hassan Nasrallah, who was Hezbollah’s top leader for more than three decades.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

The Israeli military said Sunday that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place.

If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week, including founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.

Hezbollah meanwhile confirmed that one of the seven, Ali Karaki, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military had earlier said that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.

Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the lastest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press.

Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes on top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20.

Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People check the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A woman sleeps on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Children sit in a motorcycle cart in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A boy sleeps in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A family sleep on the ground in Beirut's corniche area after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

An elderly man stands near al-Amin Mosque in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People gather at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Families sleep on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man stands on the rubble of buildings near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A woman cares for her newborn girl, Fatima, in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People gather near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A hole in the ground near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man walks on rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)