Dick Heyward (September 22, 1914 – August 3, 2005) was a deputy executive director of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

between 1949 and 1981. During that time, he was responsible for developing many of UNICEF's policies for children and served under three executive directors.

Life and career

E.J.R. Dick Heyward was born in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in 1914. He grew up on his family's apple farm and studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. He served as first secretary to the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n Mission between 1947 and 1949. He started his career in UNICEF as the Deputy Executive Director in charge of Operations in 1949 and soon developed a reputation for his intellect, efficiency and dedication. He played a leading role in integrating UNICEF into the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

established in the late 1950s. In 1960, UNICEF established a special survey into the needs of children commissioning reports from the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO), the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO) and other UN organisations. The outcome of this work was the '' Children of the Developing Countries'' report arguing that children be the focus of development programs and that UNICEF supported "Planning for Children". As a result of the new policy guided by Heyward, UNICEF funded educational programs for the first time. Heyward became a Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF in 1975 with the rank of UN Assistant Secretary General. In that year, he played a significant role in reviewing assistance to the third world. He championed the "basic services" model where services would be integrated and community based rather than the top down model previously in place. UNICEF committed to this model in 1976 and the organisation was working with the WHO in adopting a preventative approach to health care. After some initial reluctance, UNICEF agreed to support a proposal by child related

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

such as the International Union for Child Welfare to set up the

International Year of the Child UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child.

in 1979. He retired from his position in UNICEF in 1981. However, he continued to travel regularly to Africa on missions from UNICEF, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and the WHO. For example, in the early 1990s he recommended to the World Bank that iodine be added to water from village wells to address deficiencies in that mineral rather than fortifying salt as salt was not always used. However, he had a stroke in 1997 which meant that he was not able to travel as widely as before. Heyward died in Manhassett on Long Island after a long illness in 2005. Heyward's wife Elisabeth Heyward was a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

conference interpreter, and his son Andrew Heyward was president of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

until 2005. His other son Peter Heyward was a lawyer in Washington DC.

External links

UN Media Release on Heyward's Death 4 August 2005

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyward, Dick 1914 births 2005 deaths Australian officials of the United Nations UNICEF people Alumni of the London School of Economics People from Tasmania