Regarded as one of New Zealand's most important and popular leaders in recent history, Ardern declared in her resignation speech that she "no longer had enough in the tank" to fulfill the office of the premiership. She then disappeared from the limelight after her surprise resignation in January, but now appears to be getting her mojo back. She's taking on two new roles.
She is to work alongside international governments and social media companies to target extremism and terrorist content online.
Prime minister Chris Hipkins has announced that he had appointed Ardern as special envoy for the Christchurch Call, a newly created position.
The Christchurch Call project calls on signatory nations to adopt and enforce laws that ban objectionable material, and set guidelines on how traditional media can report acts of terrorism without amplifying them. Ardern also wants to push companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to put in place stronger protections against the spread of extremist violent content.
Ardern has also announced she would be joining the board of trustees of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which awards five £1m ($1.25m) prizes each year for work providing solutions to major environmental problems. Ardern said she “believed Earthshot’s power to encourage and spread not only the innovation we desperately need, but also optimism”.
Prince William said that Ardern would “bring a rich infusion of new thinking to our mission”.
“Four years ago, before The Earthshot Prize even had a name, Jacinda was one of the first people I spoke to, and her encouragement and advice was crucial,” he said.