Rt Hon Helen Clark

Helen Clark ONZ SSI is the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand. She not only served three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008 but was also the first woman elected at a general election to be the Prime Minister and was the fifth longest serving person to hold that position.

Since 2009, Helen has been the third highest-ranking official of the United Nations and is currently ranked by Forbes as the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. In 2009, Helen was voted Greatest Living New Zealander in a poll run by the New Zealand Herald and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the University of Auckland.

The government of the Solomon Islands awarded her the Star of the Solomon Islands in 2005 in recognition of New Zealand’s role in restoring law and order in the country, and in 2010 Helen was appointed to the Order of New Zealand for services to New Zealand.

In April 2016, Helen declared her candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Watch Rt Hon Helen Clark accept her award here.