Last Tuesday was an unintentionally powerful day for those that stand with humanity and empowering the children who rarely get a voice. While most of the country watched a shocked Jon Stewart on the Daily Show as he spoke with Malala Yousafzai, earlier that night Washington gathered around the Jefferson hotel to hear from UNICEF President Caryl Stern about her latest book, “I Believe in Zero*.”

Featuring Melanne Verveer, the nation’s first global ambassador for women, and with former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, a leader in the global effort to prevent deaths in garment factories as Independent Board Chairman of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, Stern focused on a key point behind the philosophy of UNICEF and her book: zero preventative child deaths.

“As a society, we can’t say that every child has value if we’re not willing to act accordingly ,” Stern wrote on Huffington Post back in September. “Over the last year, 176 governments, including the United States, have pledged to accelerate our progress on child survival. These countries have recognized that an investment in children is at the heart of every nation’s prosperity and sustainable development. Healthy children are more likely to live longer, stay in school and be productive members of their society, creating benefits that reverberate through future generations.”

Stern’s latest book is filled with stories from her travels around the world, especially as she looks at the struggles within third-world counries and how communities must pull themselves together along with their government to redefine and develop a global consciousness.