I just finished listening to the first White House Twitter Townhall — and guess what I heard? President Obama talk about the importance of smart aid! But don’t take it from me. Read what he had to say for yourself:

“I think it’s important for people to know that foreign aid accounts for less than 2% of our budget and if you define it narrowly as the kind of foreign aid to help feed people, and what we think of as classically as foreign aid, its probably closer to 1% so sometimes people have an exaggerated sense that we spend 25% of the federal budget on foreign aid. It’s a tiny amount that has a big impact. And I think America to be a leader in the world, to have influence, to help stabilize countries, create opportunity for people so that they don’t breed terrorists or create huge refugee populations flows Its smart for us to make a very modest investment in aid, it’s a forced multiplier and its something even in tough fiscal times its we need to do as part of our role as a global leader.”

A big thank you to everyone who submitted a tweet today. And don’t forget — tomorrow we’ve got another great chance to ask USAID Administrator Raj Shah some questions about youth and international development. We came up with a few tweets to help get the questions started (check them out below), but feel free to add your own!

@USAID how can we make our development efforts more cost-effective, sustainable?
@USAID how can we better connect African youth with American youth?
@USAID American aid has helped protect millions from AIDS, malaria, hunger. How can we share the good news?

@townhall How does economic growth in #Africa impact growth at home? #AskObama
@townhall Why does intl development matter in tough econ environment? #AskObama
@townhall How can trade, agric, health R&D for #Africa also benefit the US? #AskObama

I love to take short afternoon walks. My favorite route? A stroll down 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There’s always lots of photo-flashing tourists, sign-waving protesters and Blackberry-carrying workers to check out in front of the White House gates.

I realize I’m a pretty lucky gal. Not everyone gets to see the White House (almost) every day — and you can literally feel the history oozing out of building. But next week, the White House is opening its doors to all corners of the country. They’re hosting two special opportunities that I know ONE members will love.

On Wednesday, July 6, President Obama will host the very first White House Twitter Townhall. The focus is on jobs and the economy, which might seem like a bit of a stretch—but there’s actually tons of great stuff we can ask. For instance, how can we make sure that areas of great investment opportunity — like Africa — don’t get overlooked in these tricky economic times?

So get your questions ready and start submitting them on twitter today. Don’t forget to use the hashtag#AskObama, and to get the latest updates, start following @townhall. Then head back here on Wednesday at 2 PM EST to see what President Obama has to say.

And if one exciting live chat weren’t enough, get ready to talk it up on Thursday with USAID Administrator Raj Shah. The theme for this discussion? Youth and International Development—totally up our alley. And they gave us some great questions to get things going, like how are young people changing the game when it comes to global poverty? And what should the role of the Obama administration be in tackling extreme poverty and disease? So start sending in your questions for this chat, too, and then tune in on July 7 at 1:30pm EST to join in the Q&A fun.

I seriously can’t believe Thanksgiving is only one week away. I’m usually pretty bad about taking time to reflect and be thankful, but that changed just 13 minutes ago.

13 minutes ago, I hit play on a stop-you-in-your tracks kind of video. It’s longtime ONE supporter Bob Geldof talking before a crowd of folks at the end of the UN Millennium Development Goal Summit in New York City early this September.

I know that doesn’t necessarily sound that exciting, but trust me on this one. It’s a must watch. It’s funny, powerful, hit-you-in-the-gut good. I’ve never seen anyone talk so powerfully about our journey in the fight against poverty — or leave me so inspired to want to do even more.

So, take a look for yourself. It’s a little long, but it’s guaranteed to give you goosebumps. And I’d love to hear what you think after you’ve taken a look. Leave a comment right below!

The program kicked off in September with a live video-conference and call to action with Barbara Bush, and we’ve taken off ever since. With a month under our belts, we have more than 100 student leaders across the country bringing the fight against poverty onto their campuses. This month, students are rallying around a number of advocacy actions, including ONE Vote 2010 platform drop-offs, “The Lazarus Effect” screenings and an educational flier campaign around Halloween.

Don’t worry, the contest we all know and love will be back better than ever and is scheduled to launch in early 2011. Until then, get in the game! There’s still plenty of time to host a Lazarus Effect Screening at your campus.

Are you interested in leading the fight against poverty on your campus? We want you! Go to http://www.one.org/campus/ and become a campus leader or join an existing chapter. At this very moment, there are students on your college campus hungry to make a big difference for the world’s poorest people. We need your help to channel that energy and ensure legislative and policy victories for improved government, greater economic development and smarter aid in the developing world.

Questions? Contact ONE Campus Coordinator Mike Fazzino or College and Young Adult Field Manager Erin Finucane .

Join the fight to make poverty history today!

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but Malaka and I just witnessed our last event on our last day in New York. And it was a great way to end.

Sitting here in the press room at CGI, we first heard (very briefly) from President Obama, who introduced the First Lady. She talked very passionately about the amazing work our veterans do.

And then to close the show, President Clinton sat down with Bill Gates. And they had a lot of interesting things to say, such as:

President Clinton: Tell these people, what are you worried about now?

Bill Gates (slightly paraphrased): It’s easy to focus on things that aren’t going well, but it’s really important to maintain perspective. This week, the MDG Summit has been fantastic for that. The achievements we’ve seen so far have been pretty amazing. But the rate of progress is a bit under threat because of the financial crisis. You don’t immediately see aid budgets being affected, but cutbacks are a real challenge now. So I’m a bit worried about that.

President Clinton: Tell us about the latest news on polio.

Bill Gates: Polio is really an amazing story. We’ve eliminated 99 percent of all cases of polio in the world. At its height, polio paralyzed 500,00 children a year. Now it’s a few thousand. It’s incredible. And this can be the second disease we’ve eliminated – the first being smallpox. And while the cost per case is high, we have to think of the future benefit. In the long term, this is the best deal around. But we have to do it now. If we don’t fund this one, then it will escape and then people will lose hope in it.

A few great highlights from our last day and our last event (and watch President Clinton and Bill Gates full conversation below). Gotta run off to the train, but this is definitely a day – and a week – that we won’t soon forget.

So when it came time to go find lunch today, we decided to hit the streets (or the few blocks near the 92Y since we were crunched for time) and see what we could buy for $1.25 – the amount that more than one billion people in extreme poverty live on for an entire day.

Here’s what we found:

We could buy one mango.

A small bottle of water.

A pepperoni roll.

A small cookie at the bakery.

But we didn’t have enough for a small bag of peanuts.

We know there’s no way to compare this experience with those who live in extreme poverty each and every day, but it made us think a little when we went to get our lunch today – and we hope it’ll make you think the next time you head out to get your lunch, too.

Check it out here.

“Yesterday, I put forward a new development policy that will pursue these goals, recognizing that dignity is a human right and global development is in our common interest. America will partner with nations that offer their people a path out of poverty. And together, we must unleash growth that powers individuals and emerging markets in all parts of the globe.

There is no reason why Africa should not be an exporter of agriculture, which is why our food security initiative is empowering farmers. And there is no reason why entrepreneurs shouldn’t be able to build new markets in every society, which is why I hosted a summit on entrepreneurship earlier this spring. Because the obligation of government is to empower individuals, not to impede them.”

“The diversity in this room makes clear – no one country has all the answers, but all of us must answer to our own people. In all parts of the world, we see the promise of innovation to make government more open and accountable. Now, we must build on that progress. And when we gather back here next year, we should bring specific commitments to promote transparency; to fight corruption; to energize civic engagement; and to leverage new technologies so that we strengthen the foundation of freedom in our own countries, while living up to ideals that can light the world.”

Malaka and I will be actually be over at CGI later this afternoon, so check back in to read the latest. Off to get some breakfast!

But what are other folks saying? Below find the reaction from ONE’s CEO David Lane. And our policy team will be posting their thoughts in a matter of minutes. So check back soon. And don’t forget that we want to hear from you, too. What did you think of President Obama’s speech?

“We applaud the President for embracing the MDGs and announcing our nation’s new results-oriented development policy. The President is right to broaden the scope of development — while continuing to make aid more effective — with a focus on sustainable economic growth, good governance, and mutual accountability on the part of wealthy and developing nations alike.

Fighting global poverty is rooted in America’s tradition of helping the most vulnerable people and a strategic understanding that increasing the stability of poor countries improves our nation’s security.

During the past decade, we’ve learned a lot about what works. This new development policy represents a scaling up of what we know works and innovative new thinking.

Today, the President has set the policy, but now the hard work begins to turn it into reality. The first test will come in just 12 days when the Administration has the opportunity to bolster one of the most effective tools in global health, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”