In the Middle East and North Africa, the first two months of 2011 brought historic political changes. Two of the longest-running regimes in the region – those of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak – fell, and now Tunisia and Egypt are seeking to move toward democracy.
For Helen Clark, those developments provide the United Nations Development Program with a golden opportunity for greater engagement and partnerships in both countries and in the region. UNDP, she asserts, has the experience to support political transitions.
Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister, has been the administrator of UNDP since April 2009. The agency operates in 166 countries, where it aims to build local capacity relating to democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, environment and energy, and HIV/AIDS.