With the United Nations Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals going on this week, it may not be a surprise to say a group of world leaders were gathered in New York City. Yet, they were miles from the UN headquarters. In fact, these heads of state gathered at The Earth Institute at Columbia University for a forum on The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty.

Those in attendance from the Latin American nations were Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, President, United Mexican States, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President, Argentine Republic, Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, President, Republic of Paraguay, Elias Antonio Saca González, President, Republic of El Salvador, and Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino, President, Republic of Panama.

At that, Bono isn’t the only rock-star philanthropist taking aim at eliminating poverty. Shakira and Alejandro Sanz graced the floor with their presence along with Jeffrey Sachs, bestselling author and director of the Earth Institute, and activists from the ALAS and Inter-American Development Bank.

So naturally, when student leaders at Sacred Heart University, Emerson College, and Seton Hall University found out about it, we knew we had to be there to represent ONE. After convincing our professors to let us skip class, we traveled from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey with ONE bracelets and shirts proudly displayed.

While we loved seeing Shakira and Jeff Sachs, the truly meaningful words spoken at the forum were those of the world leaders. From stating how they themselves focus on the MDG’s to more personal stories, such as the state of emergency in Paraguay to the sacrifice of “beautiful buildings to have happier citizens”, much was shared, and likewise much was learned. Truly, other world leaders aren’t turning a deaf ear to these problems.

Mr. Sachs joked between Shakira’s monologue that “Like Wyclef Jean said, she makes a man want to speak Spanish.” Well, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can watch a bilingual archived webcast of the thrilling forum available online!

“If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers, most of whom are women,” Gates said. He wasn’t the only one that had something to say either; UN Leader Ban-Ki Moon focused on issues ranging from malaria to climate change, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked the World Bank to also focus efforts on climate change. Both old and new additions to Product (RED) were in attendance; Bono and Michael Dell of Dell Computers had more than enough to talk about.

It’s pretty cool to see some of our favorite leaders doing good around the world; I don’t know about you guys, but it definitly fills me up with a lot of pride and hope to be involved with something as effective and meaningful as the ONE Campaign. Huzzah!

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/25/davos.main/index.html

The best part? It worked. We did it. We put on the pressure, and they responded. But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Yesterday, Masood Ahmed, Director of the IMF’s External Relations, posted an open letter on the IMF’s website announcing that they finally took the step necessary to move forward. Some key excerpts:

I am pleased to inform you that on November 12, 2007, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has secured adequate pledges from member countries for the cost of the IMF’s debt relief to Liberia
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We have received a large volume of emails on this topic, so this letter is being posted because it is impossible to respond to each message individually.
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I take this opportunity to also thank all those who have expressed their concerns about Liberia’s debt situation. Their strong support to the cause of debt relief contributed to the broad donor support that made this financing possible.

Folks have been celebrating all afternoon on the ONE Blog, and rightly so. There is still a lots of be done for canceling Liberia’s debt, but this is a huge step.  Congratulations to everyone who had a had a hand in this victory.