26 March 2012: Helen Clark, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), highlighted the power of education to transform individuals and nations in a lecture at Columbia University in New York, US.

Clark described how development is encompassed not just growth in gross domestic product per capita, but also in the “enlargement of people’s choices and freedoms.” She noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as proclaimed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 1948, states that education is a human right. She highlighted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which target, among other things, achieving universal primary education by 2015. She noted that the global recession and high food prices in recent years have prevented the achievement of education-related and other MDGs.

She also mentioned: the potential of pilot cash transfer programmes in reducing school drop-out rates by young children; barriers to education access; the global job crisis; and the role of education in promoting peace, tolerance and understanding. She concluded by reiterating the indispensable role education plays in driving more equitable and sustainable development, “so that every person on the earth can fulfill their potential and live in dignity.”

The lecture took place at the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York, as part of the Tisch Distinguished Lecture series, which annually supports a visiting lecturer to speak on a topic considered important to the future of education. [UNDP Press Release]