Right now I am gathered around with a bunch of the rest of the ONE team listening into a teleconference introducing the Education for All Act.

We are joined on the call by Reps. Nita Lowey, Bachus, Sen. Clinton, and Bono.  Unfortunately, Senator Gordon Smith, the republican sponsor in the Senate, can’t join us on the call.

Nita Lowey is on first and giving an introduction to the bill.  The bill would place the U.S. in a leadership role for providing global education, providing for better schools and school feeding programs.  One quote stands out, “Education is not just a building block, but the corner stone for free societies.”

After her introducing the bill and what it intends to do, Rep. Lowey turned the floor over to Sen. Hillary Clinton.  Sen. Clinton is commenting on how they first introduced the act in 2004 to put us on track for meeting the MDGs.  Her closing argument is especially compelling (I paraphrase here), If you care about any issue, poverty, HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, you should care about Education.

Rep. Bachus is introducing himself and explaining why he has sponsored this bill.  His message is that we should come together and create a comprehensive solution for the issues facing us.  He is referencing the 9/11 commission’s recommendation that the U.S. support education in the developing world and how education must place a central role for any lasting peace.

Bono is closing out the call.  I’ll paraphrase his comments. 

The number of children out of school in Africa is the same number of children in elementary and middle school in America.  Just imagine what America would be like if we shut down all the schools in America, what would the country be like when that generation inherited it?

He is telling the story of visiting a school in Abuja, Nigeria.  The students were having a civics lesson, and were heavily involved.  But he knew that at the same time there were students in northern Nigeria being taught to hate western society in extremist schools.  So either we help provide and education, or leave it to others. 

African women’s income increase 20% for each year they are in school.  The proof is there that this makes a difference.

“This legislation is the launching pad of what could be the next American moon-shot: universal primary education for the 77 million children around the world who aren’t in school because they are too poor.  This is a huge, brazen and incredibly smart idea at a time when many are questioning our values in the West, or whether we have any values at all.”

The call is now open to Q&A with members of the press.

It felt really great to be listening in to this call, very uplifting to hear this bi-partisan coalition talk about how this is the challenge of our time, and how stepping up to this challenge will truly transform the world