Step ahead to keep the peace

Interview with Ms Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister. Rep: Suzanne

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, who is eyeing the UN secretary-general post, tells Sunday Star why she seeks to pre-empt problems rather than fix them.

THE hour is late, says Helen Clark. The world is beset with a myriad of problems, and the time to deal with them is now.

Clark is no doomsday prophet foretelling ruin. Rather, she is championing a progressive, proactive United Nations, which seeks to pre-empt problems rather than fix them.

Her firm stance anchors her campaign platform, as Clark seeks to be the first woman secretary-general of the UN.

Her urgency extends across issues, from climate change to global peace and security, says the former prime minister of New Zealand and current administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“By the time the peace-keepers have to be sent, we have failed,” says Clark, referring to the blue-helmeted personnel tasked with creating the “conditions for lasting peace” in conflict-ridden areas.

Although she acknowledges the important role peace-keepers play globally, Clark would much rather they never need deployment in the first place.

“You need to be much more proactive when it comes to the long-term building of a peaceful society, to look at implementing early warning systems and mediation processes,” she says.

“For the next sec-gen, peace and security issues are very, very pressing,” says Clark.

“But it must be remembered that they’re so related to development issues – because where you see the very serious conflicts, there is always a significant development deficit.”

During Clark’s tenure with the UNDP, she has been in a unique position to witness this first-hand.

“When I travel as UNDP administrator, one of the things I really find interesting has been to see the issues that are on the interface of poverty and environment, very challenging issues like conflict and climate change, seeing how they impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people – first, and most of all.

“I have travelled to more than 120 countries in my life and seen first-hand the power of positive change that comes when people work together. I have also seen the immense suffering and extreme poverty that many people live in today. I believe the UN can do better – but we have to work together.”

The role of the UN sec-gen has historically been quite fluid in definition.

Clark sees the position as being one with great convening power; it’s about surrounding yourself with the right people and then allowing/enabling them to do their jobs.

“The sec-gen role is a bit like the role of Prime Minister, which usually isn’t terribly well-described in a country’s Constitution – New Zealand doesn’t even have a Constitution! You have to find the role through personality and the way that you operate.”

“While being sec-gen is not about being a general – we don’t have a standing army – there is certainly space created around the role for good officers!

“I am a bridge-builder and understand the power of consensus and bringing people with me,” she says.

“Plus, I come from a diverse country, in a diverse region, and know how to work with people to get things done.”

Clark’s view of a leadership role involves having a “helicopter view” across issues, rather than specialising in just one. It’s a matter of strategic guidance, versus niche specialisation.

“When you enrol in a public life career, you tend to focus on particular issues, a portfolio of sorts or designated responsibilities. But it’s different when you lift to a leader level.

“As a leader, it’s important to be surrounded by a strong team. You have to support others on your team across their duties, whether that’s a team of Cabinet Ministers or a team of major departmental heads.”

“The UN’s new global development agenda is (comparatively) much more comprehensive – we are looking at what the ingredients of a peaceful, inclusive, harmonious society are. And I think we need to look at peace and security much more holistically,” she says.

In person, Clark’s charisma is formidable and her resolve, firm. But the plain-speaking politician also exudes a disarming warmth, and her vision of a “strong and relevant” UN “that unites us to make a better, fairer and safer world for all” is certainly seductive.

Clark has a long history of public service and a documented passion for a host of social causes, from the environment to affordable public housing.

“I’m also task-focused, decisive, and results-oriented,” she adds, as well as savvy with and active on social media.

Stir her work with the UNDP into the mix, and it’s no wonder that Clark is widely-acknowledged as the front-runner in the race to replace current UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the year-end.

Historically, this latest round of contenders for the UN secretary-general post has already made history, with Clark up against no less than four other women (and six men).

The other female contenders include Bulgaria’s Irina Boskova, the country’s former acting Minister of Foreign Affairs (1996 to 1997) and current Unesco director-general and Susana Malcora, Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has previously held posts as Undersecretary General of the United Nations for Field Support and Chef de Cabinet of the United Nations Secretariat.

As a woman leader, Clark is no stranger to punching her way through the glass ceiling, albeit in a fairly genteel manner.

Between 1999 and 2008, she was New Zealand’s first female prime minister elected in her own right; predecessor Jenny Shipley got the post by issuing a mid-term leadership challenge to then-prime minister Jim Bolger, in 1997.

Under Clark’s steerage, unemployment levels fell, and there was significant investment in education, health, family and senior citizen issues. As involved as she was in domestic issues, she kept an eye on foreign affairs, always a large part of her career.

After three consecutive terms as prime minister, Clark became the administrator for the UNDP – once again, the first woman to be so.

“For the last seven years, I have devoted myself to development issues across all regions of the world – Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central Asia – and worked with many of the donor countries which provide substantial funding for the UNDP,” she says.

She also chairs the United Nations Development Group, a committee which works on development issues, and which consists of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments.

“It’s clearly accepted that a woman can do any job, across all spheres,” says Clark.

“Take the central banks, in America and Russia, large companies etc. Certainly, there are not enough (women in leadership roles), but the trend is there. And I think as the base of women coming through the education systems start to shift up the ranks, you will see significant proportions of women in top positions in the next 15 to 20 years.”

In interviews, she has stressed that she is not seeking – and has never sought – election as a woman. Rather, she says, she is simply the best person for the job.

Clark’s advice to women, in public roles especially, is to be very centred and maintain a balance between career and personal life.

“The truth is that even if they are at the top of a government, or heading a major business, women still take more responsibility for family life and issues, and they need time for that,” she said.

“Getting that balance is very important. Women tend to be very good time managers, so they also tend to take on a lot – but it’s important to focus on one’s own health and well-being and time away. These jobs at the top, they won’t last forever. One day, you’re going to walk out of your positions – and you want your family and circle of friends to still be there when you do.”