Hips Don’t Lie

This weekend, a who’s who of Latin pop stars, including Shakira and Ricky Martin, held free concerts in Buenos Aires and Mexico City to build awareness for the importance of early childhood development and raise funds for ALAS, a nonprofit started by Latin American artists, including Shakira, Wyclef Jean, and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, to pressure governments and businesses across the region to support programs that improve early childhood development for poor children. The above clip is from the Buenos Aires concert.

Let’s hope their message was heard: There are 54 million children under the age of 5 in Latin America, 32 million of whom live in poverty, and improving childhood development and education for these youngsters is essential for the region’s future progress. Someone seems to be listening; last week ALAS raised $200 million in funding for its mission from Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helú and Howard Buffet (son of Warren Buffet, who’s made significant investments in early education in the United States as well).