What is MrBeast’s new video about? YouTuber builds $10 million village in Ghana to combat child labor

YouTube star MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has released a new video documenting his largest humanitarian project to date. He built a nearly $10 million self-sustaining village in Ghana to help families affected by child labour in the cocoa industry.

MrBeast has unveiled his biggest humanitarian project of nearly $10 million self-sustaining village in Ghana to help children return to school. (X/@MrBeast)The project is called Abna Dakwa Village. It is aimed at provide housing, education, healthcare and clean water to the families and help give children an alternative to working on illegal cacao farms. The video also serves as a call for greater accountability from global chocolate companies over cocoa sourcing practices.

MrBeast said the settlement took about one year of planning followed by eight months of construction before opening its doors.

The project aligns with his Feastables chocolate brand, which has repeatedly promoted ethically sourced cocoa and criticised child labour within parts of the global cocoa supply chain.

In the video, MrBeast walks viewers through the construction of Abna Dakwa Village, built on previously undeveloped land.

The village includes 10 free homes for teachers, a medical clinic, a community marketplace and a school capable of educating more than 300 students.

To encourage school attendance, every student will receive free daily meals for the next five years, funded with support from The Rockefeller Foundation.

The development also featured an off-grid solar power system installed with support from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. This will help make the community less dependent on traditional electricity infrastructure.

The village includes two large water towers supplying clean drinking water, along with agricultural facilities and fish tanks designed to help the community become self-sustaining.

According to MrBeast, the project’s goal extends beyond constructing buildings.

He said the initiative seeks to reduce the economic pressures that often push children into hazardous cocoa farm work instead of classrooms.

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The video also highlights the wider issue of child labor in cocoa production, particularly in West Africa. Organizations like International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF have also documented the continued use of children in hazardous agricultural work.

MrBeast directly challenged major chocolate manufacturers during the video.

“Big chocolate will not care about rampant child labor until you guys watching this video do something about it,” he said.

“Show big chocolate that you care, that you do not want little children exploited.”

The village was developed through partnerships with the 1 Billion Followers Summit, the Varkey Foundation and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives as part of the 1 Billion Acts of Kindness campaign.

10 other content creators from different countries also travelled to Ghana to help construct the village alongside MrBeast.

Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues. Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats. Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments. She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More