bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Helen Clark, the highest ranking woman at the United Nations, is stepping down as director of the UN Development Programme in April, according to an email seen on Wednesday.
The former prime minister of New Zealand told UNDP staff that she had notified UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of her intention to leave the top post on April 19, at the end of her second four-year term.
“It has been an honour and privilege for me to lead UNDP for eight years,” Clark wrote in the email addressed to “dear colleagues.”
Clark’s departure opens up a race to lead the UN’s largest agency.
Former British foreign secretary David Milliband, who now heads the International Rescue Committee, has been tipped as a possible successor as has French ecology minister Segolene Royal.
Clark, 66, took the helm at UNDP in 2009 and in April last year launched a campaign to run as UN secretary general, which she lost to Guterres.
The new UN chief is weighing a series of appointments in the coming months to key positions at the world body, but uncertainty over the US stance has slowed down those decisions.
Aside from the new UNDP chief, Guterres will appoint new faces to head the UN peacekeeping department as well as political affairs and may decide to create a new senior post as head of counter-terrorism.
To satisfy US demands for major reforms at the United Nations, Guterres may offer to appoint a US national to head the management department, diplomats said.


Helen Clark, former New Zealand PM, will step down as UN development chief in April

Dorector of the UNDP Helen Clark (Rattends the opening of the plenary of the UN Supporting Syrians and the Region Conference in Helsinki, Finland, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

News

World