The Power of Public Service

This week, the United Nations marked Public Service Day, highlighting the daily efforts of public servants striving to build a future of dignity for all.

 At the UN Public Service Forum in Medellin, Colombia, 22 public institutions received a UN Public Service Award recognizing their innovation and leadership. The initiatives honored ranged from projects providing easier access to health services for high-risk pregnancies in Thailand and poor marginalized populations in Indonesia, to promoting gender equality in Spain and France, to providing education to young people with special needs in the Philippines. Other awardees were projects to improve access to sanitary toilets in India, provide solar energy to poor households in the Republic of Korea and create housing units in Ethiopia.

These initiatives highlight what effective public service can achieve -- the real difference it can make in people’s lives.

Few individuals embody the spirit of service more than Nelson Mandela who, for 67 year, devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

In his honour, the winners of the first-ever United Nations Nelson Mandela Rolihlahla Prize for outstanding contributions to the service of humanity – Helena Ndume and Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio –  were announced this week.

Helena Ndume is a Namibian ophthalmologist whose life’s work has been dedicated to the treatment of blindness and eye-related illnesses, both in Namibia and throughout the developing world. Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio, the 18th President of Portugal, received the prize for his longstanding commitment to freedom, human rights, democracy and peace.

Choosing the path of public service is not an easy decision. But, as I told graduating students at Georgetown University last month, what is important to remember is that history does not measure a person by his or her bank account; what counts is how much one gives back to the world – and how courageously one fights for what is right and for those in need.

I encouraged those young people to make the choice of public service.

As a young man visiting the United States, I was inspired to pursue a life of public service when I met President John F. Kennedy. He said, at the time of the cold war, “you can be friends, even though the governments may not. What is important at this time is that there are no national boundaries. How much and whether you are willing to extend your helping hand to the people who are in need. This is exactly what I am asking you.”

His words have stayed with me throughout my life and career. In my nine years as Secretary-General, I have seen first-hand that when individuals serve others, they enrich themselves and when countries serve the global interest, they advance their own security.

The calling of public service can sometimes mean championing what you know to be right even when you are criticized for taking a stand. As Secretary-General, I have taken up the issues of our time, including human rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. There were those who wanted me to be silent on the issue. But I felt obliged to speak out because lives were at stake -- because serving the people of the world means ALL the people of the world.

This obligation extends to our planet, as well as its inhabitants, which is why I have taken up the cause of climate action as the defining issue of our time. I am determined to continue to do all I can to persuade governments, businesses, and community leaders to act on climate change as we look forward to countries reaching an ambitious agreement on climate change in Paris in December.

We need look no further than the new UN award winners as we all strive to be better global citizens -- for people and planet.

• Learn why 2015 is the time for global action
• Find out about careers at the UN
• Get involved with the UN Free & Equal campaign
• Take action in honour of Nelson Mandela

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