Helen Clark stepping down from UN

Former prime minister Helen Clark is stepping down as director of the UN Development Program in April at the end of her second four-year term.

She's told her staff that she's informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of her intention to leave the post on April 19, AFP reports from New York.

"It has been an honour and privilege for me to lead UNDP for eight years," she said in her email addressed to "dear colleagues".

Clark has been the highest ranked woman at the UN since she took the position.

She was a candidate for the secretary-general's job last year but lost to Guterres.