MCC 2012 Recap

By ewbexec

It’s been a while since we’ve spoken to you last but full of activity. Since our last blog post, we’ve had two meetings (with great turnout!) and taken 14 of the EWB-BU group to the 2012 Millennium Campus Conference (MCC) at Northeastern! It’s been great having such a large interest in our work and great attendance at our meetings. We appreciate that all you newcomers are taking the time out of your Sundays to spend time with the rest of the group and work towards a common goal. MCC 2012 (9/14-9/15) was a blast! We were able to take 14 of our members to attend the conference, which was chock-full of incredible people in the world of global development, such as:

• Paul Farmer (Doctor, Founder of Partners in Health (PIH))
• Leymah Gbowee (Liberian Peace Activist, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner)
• Jeffrey Sachs (Director & Professor of Earth Institute at Columbia University, Economist)
• Emilia Pires (Minister of Finance, Timor Leste)
• Steve Radelet (Chief Economist, US AID)

… and many others! It was an eye-opening event, to be sure. There were approximately 1,200 students, among many other people, who attended the event from different groups, different states, and even different countries. In addition to hearing such illustrious personalities and world leaders speak (see above), we were able to listen to and participate in panel discussions and workshops, discussing issues such as “The Roadblocks to Providing Care” and “Building Sustainable Projects on the Ground” to more practical strategies such as “Cross-Sector Collaboration” and “Community Partnerships.” We hope to share all these ideas with you, so keep posted. Attending the conference really made us realize that there are so many different aspects to consider and be cognizant of when working in global development. It’s definitely a very lofty goal, and we are more determined than ever to help the community of Naluja. Since not everyone was able to go, we’ll just leave you with some of the more memorable quotes from our time there:

• “We are moving from the era of economic development to the era of sustainable development.” – Jeffrey Sachs
• “Some say that we’re wasting our time on people in poverty. I’m here to say that they are wrong.” – Steve Radelet
• “You can’t plan ahead for defeats, but you can build partnerships to help.” – Dr. Paul Farmer
• “If you want to walk quickly, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.” – Maya Cohen
• “[Poverty] can be ended… we have to choose to end it.” – Jeffrey Sachs
• “It’s not the level of qualification you bring, but the passion and commitment you have to the people you work with.” – Leymah Gbowee
• “Above all, people want opportunity.” – Emilia Pires

Thank you to those who have supported us in the past. If this conference has taught us anything, it’s that we have a long way to go.

If you are interested in what we do, contact us at ewbexec@bu.edu. We’re always looking for more people to join us on this journey!