The Rt Hon Helen Clark ONZ PC said this in response to a question put to her by former Labour party cabinet minster Winnie Laban, who had asked her about the role of religion in addressing the world's problems.

"Absolutely critical and I say that as a person of no faith whatsoever, but most people aren't like me. Most people to have some adherence to faith and so faith communities have enormous influence."

Clark spoke particularly of the influence of Pope Francis.

"You take a faith leader like the Pope. He has influence that transcends religion. I said to someone the other day, 'I am not a religious person but thank God for the Pope'."

Clark said it would be obvious she did not agree with everything the Pope said. In this regard she singled out sexual and reproductive health.

"But on the basic issues of poverty, climate, justice - this man is speaking for the hopes of so many."

Clark said the importance of working with faith leaders on the local, national and global level is well acknowledged across agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF.

It is critical, she said, to have the local faith leaders involved in the issues of gender.

"In something like trying to stop female genital mutilation, cutting - to have faith leaders come out against that [practice] and back the women in the community who are obviously trying to trying to stop it, is just critical.

"It is extremely important to bring the faith leaders with us and engage with them so that their voice can be heard on these issues," she said.

Clark was taking part a conversation with Dr Gill Greer, at Te Papa on 29 June.

The Conversation was Broadcast on RNZ National on Sunday August 6.

Greer has been CEO of Volunteer Service Abroad since July 2012. She leaves the organisation this month.

From 2006-2011 Greer was the Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Listen to the podcast

Source

• Transcript taken from RNZ podcast " Helen Clark in Conversation with Gilll Greer"
• Image: Amritapuri

In an interview with the Campaign for a Woman Secretary General, Clark was asked how important it was for the Secretary General to be an inspirational figure.

She replied that it helped in a troubled world.

"I look, for example, around the world at who is providing a sense of inspiration and hope at the moment. It's the Pope. I am not a Catholic but I recognise in this man tremendous goodness. A voice of sanity in a troubled world, often speaking what we all feel but could not express as eloquently. So, yes, leadership matters." Continue reading

Miss Clark, who is head of the United Nations Development Programme, said this at the opening of the new Religious Diversity Centre in Wellington last week.

She is to be patron of the centre.

"Our world badly needs such models [as New Zealand]. On so many days now when I see the news headlines I often think how fortunate we are," she said in Wellington.

She referred to "societies ripped apart by violent extremists with the extremists claiming so often to act in the name of the faith and yet prepared to violate every single principle of those faiths".

"The world badly needs voices of reason and tolerance and those who will work to build dialogue and respect across faiths and beliefs.

"I do believe that New Zealand can show the way."

Miss Clark said the role of faith-based actors had special significance in those parts of the world where governance structures were very weak and the state could not give access to basic services like education, justice, health and security.

She said the UNDP acknowledges the role of the faith actors in local communities.

Faith organisations often deliver critical services.

And faith leaders can mobilise grassroots support and earn the trust of vulnerable communities.

"They also have the ability to influence very significantly cultural norms and social cohesion," Miss Clark said.

"What is said at the pulpit on Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays matters a lot to society."

Sources

• New Zealand Herald
• Image: UNDP

It should have been considered urgent. Perhaps the indignity of that day was generally dismissed as mere farce, since Waitangi had by then become such a pressure-cooker pantomime and Clark's tormenter was Titewhai Harawira, who is not widely respected.

But the practice of silencing women and relegating them to a secondary role, which pervades other marae including that at Parliament, was and remains deeply offensive to most New Zealanders.

It has taken years of further routine humiliation of women at powhiri, hui and the like, most of it unreported, for someone in a position of leadership to cry enough. Continue reading.

Source: The Listener

Image: NICVA

This extraordinary man, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1962, who served 27 years in jail for his beliefs, walked free, without bitterness, to lead the rebuilding of South Africa as a multi-ethnic nation founded on human rights and the rule of law.

The cause for which Nelson Mandela fought throughout his life was based on the hopes and dreams of South Africans who were excluded from full rights of citizenship and repressed by the evil force of apartheid.

The freedom movement built a mass base not only at home, but also through global solidarity networks around the world.

Those networks extended to New Zealand.

South Africa was far away, and was probably best known to New Zealanders for the strength of its rugby teams.

Many New Zealanders loved the game, too. When the rugby ties with South Africa became the focus for New Zealand's anti-apartheid movement, many were reluctant to acknowledge that accepting engagement with racially segregated teams amounted to condoning the regime that mandated them. Continue reading.

Helen Clark is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and is the United Nations Development Programme Administrator.

Source: The Listener

Image: Mandela in 1994 looks through the bars of the Robben Island cell he was held in for 18 years Jurgen Schadeberg/Getty Images