The Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on 20 September 2026 that the 1 Billion Acts of Kindness campaign in Ghana had finished a development programme covering clean water, education, healthcare, food and economic opportunity for more than 1,062 residents in a village in the country’s Eastern Region.
The campaign was launched through a partnership between the 1 Billion Followers Summit, Beast Industries (the company founded by content creator Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast) the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), and the Varkey Foundation.
How the 1 Billion Acts of Kindness Ghana programme was announced
The milestone was first announced at the fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, held from 9 to 11 January 2026 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The summit was organised by the UAE Government Media Office across Emirates Towers, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and the Museum of the Future.
The session on the campaign featured Saeed Al Eter, CEO of MBRGI, and Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries. The summit’s fourth edition drew more than 30,000 visitors and hosted over 15,000 content creators, alongside more than 500 speakers with a collective audience of 3.5 billion, according to the Dubai Media Office.
Alia Al Hammadi, Vice Chairperson of the UAE Government Media Office and CEO of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, said the Ghana project reflected the summit’s wider purpose. ‘Completing the comprehensive development framework in the Eastern Region of Ghana embodies the 1 Billion Followers Summit’s vision to drive the positive impact of the content industry and digital media, transforming this impact into an engine of development that addresses humanitarian causes and changes the reality of communities.’
What the project delivered on the ground
Before the programme, the village had limited access to clean water, sanitation, education and medical care. Household incomes averaged between $100 and $120 (Dh367 to Dh440) per month, and child labour rates ran at nearly 40 per cent, with school absenteeism rising during cocoa harvest season as children worked on farms. Residents previously travelled up to an hour by motorbike to reach basic medical services.
Construction work covered classrooms from kindergarten through junior high school, teacher housing, school meal programmes, handwashing stations and sanitary toilets. A new health clinic was also opened, designed to support early detection of illnesses including malaria and respiratory infections, and to improve maternal and infant healthcare. The clinic treated its first 100 patients on its opening day.
Donaldson said the conditions encountered during the visit drove the scale of the response. ‘When we travelled to the village with 20 international creators and saw the harsh realities the community faced living without healthcare or clean water, we all knew we had to turn this village into a model for radical change.’
Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said education underpinned the broader effort. ‘Education is the greatest gift we can give, it transforms lives, families and entire communities. What has been achieved through 1 Billion Acts of Kindness in Eastern Ghana shows what is possible when we bring together education, healthcare and nutrition to remove the barriers that prevent children from learning.’
Donaldson’s platforms generate more than 62 billion annual views and reach over 1.1 billion followers, according to the campaign’s organisers. He worked alongside 20 international content creators selected at the summit, with field teams handling construction, electricity and water infrastructure. The fourth edition of the summit was itself built around the theme ‘Content for Good’, with sessions spanning more than 580 keynote addresses, roundtables and workshops.
Organisers said behind-the-scenes content documenting the Ghana project will be distributed through Donaldson’s network and the collective reach of around 3,000 creators across 180 countries. One video follows the health clinic from construction through to its opening day.
