ChildFund chief executive Josie Pagani. Photo / Mark Mitchell, file
Every child in the Pacific will have access to clean water within the next decade, if ChildFund chief executive Josie Pagani has her way.
Pagani, whose career spanning media, politics, foreign affairs, aid and development has seen her become a well-known public figure in New Zealand, concedes it’s a “really big” goal.
But she told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan she’s excited by the challenge, because she reckons it’s achievable.
“I think we can get clean water to every child in the Pacific within 10 years if we co-ordinate, if we get together as charities, government, corporates and businesses working in the Pacific,” she said.
“That would do more to lift people out of poverty in the Pacific than just about anything.”
Pagani told Real Life the goal came about because she believes aid organisations need to have ambitions that are measurable.
“I’ve been in aid and development for 20 years now, and the campaigns or the goals that have succeeded are the ones that had clear targets and clear timelines,” she explained.
“Eradicate smallpox by 1980? 100% successful. Eradicate polio … we’re still working on that, but nearly done. Halve extreme poverty by 2015? Succeeded.
“So I think when the goals are very clear – on malaria, or it might be TB, HIV/AIDS, or water in the Pacific – if you can have a clear goal, people trust that you’re going to deliver and are going to get it done, and that you might succeed. I think that’s really important.”
Pagani told Cowan it’s “shocking” that there are still children in the Pacific that don’t have access to clean water or a solid education.
“We just focus on the basics: let’s get them clean drinking water, let’s make sure they get to school, let’s get the grounding foundations right for these kids – that’s our contribution to Pacific development.”
Pagani has enjoyed a varied career, which she self-deprecatingly describes as her having “lurched from one thing to another”.
In reality, of course, it’s simply a reflection of a diverse skill set that allows her to be as comfortable in a radio interview as she is writing a column, chairing a panel on geopolitics, or strategising how to make clean water more accessible in the Pacific.
But being so public has its downsides. Having described the Russian president as a “murderous criminal” in an opinion piece just after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin sanctioned her and banned her from entry.
“At first you wear it as a badge of honour, and just go, ‘Well, do what you want, I don’t care. It’s the right thing to do,’” Pagani said.
“And then you suddenly go, ‘Should I be worried about poisonous umbrellas and poisonous bottles of perfume that might be lying around?’ So it’s a little bit freaky.
“That is the Putin Government’s tactic: they target people like me … so that you feel like their tentacles are everywhere. You may even not be that political, but they’ll just want you to know they’re watching and listening.”
Those fear tactics extended to posts on social media, with Russia’s foreign ministry once posting a picture of Pagani on Twitter (now X) with a target on her face, calling her “our favourite New Zealand political columnist”.
Pagani responded to that post in a way she thought was “very cocky and clever”, but then had second thoughts.
“I thought, maybe taking on Putin’s Government is not a great idea. Maybe I won’t do that.”
Elsewhere in the Real Life interview, Pagani reflected on what she learned from growing up in a small English village, being a “bad Catholic”, and why she’s a political commentator who doesn’t care for the “horse race” of politics.
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
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