Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark is living in
the fast lane in her role as United Nations' development
programme administrator. David Bruce reports.
Helen Clark answers a question from Waitaki Boys' High
School rector Dr Paul Baker during a special assembly at
the school yesterday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
From the Waikato town of Te Pahu, with its population of
1191, to New York City, with 8 million people, Helen Clark has
come a long way.
The former New Zealand prime minister is now the
third-highest ranked United Nations official in her role as
administrator of its development programme.
And she is a living example of what she told about 450 senior
secondary school pupils in Oamaru yesterday: "The world is
your oyster, if you are prepared to put the effort and
commitment in."
In an interview with the Otago Daily Times yesterday,
she said about half her time was spent in New York at the
United Nations headquarters. The rest of the time she was
jetting around the world, visiting heads of state and
on-the-ground development staff, working, at times, in hot
zones.
Visits had been cancelled almost as she was due to board an
aircraft when the country she was heading for was suddenly
embroiled in conflict.
Since she took up her job in April 2009, her home had been
mid-New York, a city she loved.
She lived in an apartment "only a three-minute walk into the
[UN] secretary-general's office".
The cultural - "amazing museums and galleries" - and historic
attractions of the city suited her interests, although she
admitted she did not have as much time as she would like to
enjoy them.
"It's a simple drive or train ride out of the city and you
have immense open and forested areas."
Despite her hectic schedule, Miss Clark continued to make
time to keep fit at a gym in her apartment building. The area
where she lived was heavily policed 24 hours a day and so she
had no qualms walking home late at night after work.
"The New York Police Department pays our area an enormous
amount of attention."
Her enthusiasm for her work had not been diminished by the
pressure of the hectic lifestyle.
Her passion for the environment and democracy through to
health and improving the role of girls and women in
developing countries had been rekindled through her work.
Her job was a leadership role, dealing with countries and
territories at the highest level where her reputation as a
former prime minister was welcomed by countries seeking
advice.
She would not be drawn on whether she would seek another
four-year term: "How long is a piece of string? I enjoy it,
and time will tell." The job had proved to be what she
expected.
"I knew more about the sort of political and security side
than I did about the development side. But I had had
involvement with development in New Zealand as the PM," she
said.
Miss Clark, who was in New Zealand on a private holiday to
see family, visited Oamaru to assist Project Hearts and Hands
for Haiti fundraising.
Helen Clark
NZ prime minister: 1999-2008.
Age: 61.
Born: Te Pahu, Waikato.
Educated: Epsom Girls' Grammar, Auckland
University.
Lives: New York.
Job: UN development programme administrator.
Appointed: April 2009 for four years.
Oversees: Department's $US5 billion ($NZ6 billion)
annual budget.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz
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