Dick Heyward

Who was Dick Heyward?

Dick Heyward was a deputy executive director of UNICEF 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.

E.J.R. Dick Heyward was born in Tasmania in 1914. He grew up on his family's apple farm and studied at the London School of Economics. He served as first secretary to the Australian 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 established in the late 1950s. In 1960, UNICEF established a special survey into the needs of children commissioning reports from the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organization 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.