While Bono and Bob Geldof have long been banging away, pressing world leaders for progress to help the poorest with debt cancellation, more money and better policies to fight hunger and disease, there is a tough new activist in town: Seattle's finest, Bill Gates Jnr.
In a remarkable twist of political theatre, the billionaire philanthropist - who's foundation gives away $2.5bn a year - has been asked by President Sarkozy to present his vision on how to finance the fight against poverty to the mixed bag of G20 leaders when they meet next week in Cannes.
To those who don't know him, it will seem a surprisingly radical vision. Bill will call for a new partnership of revolutionary innovation between the developed world, the emerging powerhouses of the BRICS, the developing world and the private sector. Mr Gates has a devastating deadpan data-delivery style.
Bono calls it the "Kill Bill" manoeuvre. We trust it will go down well with world leaders.
It is essential we all pay serious attention to his proposals because they may shape the fight against extreme poverty for a generation to come. So if you don't like his proposals, you should feel free to shout out. If you do like them - well, let's shout even louder.
Even before the report has been published, much attention has been given to Gates' support for a financial transaction tax. There are clearly huge opportunities here and those countries that are willing to do so should adopt such a levy, but with one key proviso: a significant portion of the proceeds must go towards fighting global inequalities and helping those in extreme poverty.
But this step alone is not enough. Not even its biggest supporters will argue that an FTT can singlehandedly finance the fight against extreme poverty. Fortunately there are many other big and wide-reaching proposals in his paper which also deserve urgent attention and action.
First up is Mr Gates' push for legally binding measures to enforce transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector. Africa's natural resources were worth $246 billion in exports in 2009. The proportion of this wealth that was spent on public services and helping people to pull themselves out of poverty should have been much larger than it was.
But without the transparency that shines a light on the contracts that governments sign with big business, money goes astray. He may not know it but in recommending this he has thrown his weight behind the "Publish What You Pay" coalition that ONE is part of, which has been campaigning on this issue for years.
The campaign helped push the USA to lead on this issue, and indeed just today the European Commission is presenting its proposals for legally binding rules to force companies extracting natural resources to make public their payments to governments. So just as Bill's proposals on a financial transaction tax takes on the Big Banks, so his proposal on transparency takes on Big Oil.
This is why Bill is shaping up to be such a fascinating evidence-based activist. By just following the hard data his empirical process is leading to some very big ideas.
Gates' proposals will get to the heart of the issue around the future financing of the fight against poverty. Ultimately the largest source of money for fighting poverty comes from within developing countries. The more our aid - resources given by European and American taxpayers - is used to leverage their aid - resources raised by African and other developing country taxpayers for their priorities - the smarter our aid will be and the sooner we can get out of the aid business altogether.
This is similar to the point Tony Blair made in his speech to the Overseas Development Institute last week. It's not an argument for ending aid prematurely, rather it's a case for scaling aid up smartly as promised until it is dwarfed entirely by the resources African citizens raise for themselves to fight poverty and promote growth. Then the aid industry exits stage left, job done.
And the job is already half done. Africa has come a long way in the last decade or so since debts were dropped and aid became bigger and smarter. Here are just some of the numbers.
46.5 million more kids started going to school in Africa between 1999 and 2008. In 2009, nearly 4 million Africans were receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, up from only 50,000 in 2002. Measles deaths in Africa declined by 92% between 2000 and 2008. Remarkable stuff, but more to do.
That is why Bill is also eyeing the huge sums sitting in the coffers of the emerging powers. 1% of sovereign wealth funds may not seem like a lot, but when you realise they are currently worth just under $5 trillion, that's a decent sum.
Applying that kind of money to investments in agriculture and infrastructure can quickly reduce the marginalisation that blights vast regions and put them in a position where they can function fully in the global economy. That is in the interests of all. Current global growth is just about creeping along only because of the arrival of the Chinas and Indias. Africa will be next and the sooner African growth surges even more to help prop up the global economy, the better for us all.
So the future of development finance is about unlocking the capital of emerging economies - but Bill argues it's also about unlocking their creativity. Their recent experience with rapid development gives them a wealth not just of cash but of knowledge which, if used wisely and mixed with the dynamism of entrepreneurs in developing countries, will unleash job-generating growth not just for their economies but for the global economy.
There remains a real risk that the Cannes G20 summit will go down as the moment where we failed to not just get the Eurozone sorted, but also failed to spot the surging opportunities in this changing world. To world leaders I would say only this: pay heed to Bill Gates' modest proposals - they could well be the best way to figure out the future not just of financing the fight against poverty, but also the fight for global growth.